I am running a best political animal contest. Candidates are sending in pictures of their pet with a sign. All of the pictures will be posted and the winning candidate will be at the top of my blog the day of the June Primary election.

This dog picture was taken from a rally where his campaign said over 300 people attended.

Dennis Carpenter might not have as many endorsements from police chiefs or as much money but his campaign has plenty of energy. I saw them last week at the corner off the Erringer exit on the 118. I didn't have my camera with me but I asked them to send in some photos and they did. These pictures are from some of their Burma Shaving events across Ventura County.

The campaign to be the next Sheriff of Ventura County will be among the top decisions voters make locally in June. I don't know about other parts of Ventura County but in Simi Valley I have seen many more signs and bumper stickers for Geoff Dean. I even saw someone at Lowe's with a Geoff Dean tshirt.

I did see my first Dennis Carpenter sign today with the line about being endorsed by Sheriff Bob Brooks on it.

How is the campaign to be the next Sheriff going in your area going? Are they regional pockets of support for each candidate?

Dennis Carpenter's campaign sent me the HTML for their Facebook Fanbox. Click on continue reading to become a fan of his campaign.

The race to be the next Sheriff for Ventura County really is a question of character. The issues that seperate the two candidates are so small that without being an expert we are left with character evaluations. Candidate Geoff Dean was fired and then re-instated over what has been called a ethical issue by the current Sheriff. Dean admits he acted improperly in preparing to campaign but has refuted any insinuation that it should be a major issue.

Dennis Carpenter has argued that this episode is enough to be a major issue in the campaign. Trust is an important issue in law enforcement. If the only information I had was news articles on the subject I wouldn't feel good voting for anyone involved in the department leadership and would prefer a clean sweep of the place. Sometimes news stories leave us with so many unanswered questions we feel less knowledgeable after reading them.

But then I look over the impressive endorsement list over at Geoff Dean's website and it alleviates many of my concerns. If so many of the people that work closely with Geoff Dean trust him enough to put their names on his website then I feel more comfortable with the trust issue.

I wonder if the candidates trust each other enough to keep working for the department no matter who wins? That's an interesting question.

Dennis Carpenter's campaign sent me a fundraising letter to share with my readers:

Sorry for the delay in posting it. Good luck at your fundraiser.

Dennis Carpenter's campaign has been solidifying support among Republican Party leaders and I expect we will see more endorsements rolled out over the next few weeks. With both Tony Strickland and Audra Strickland running for office I don't know how involved they will be getting but I expect they will be helping Dennis Carpenter.

It would be interesting to see if they start going after more endorsements from school board members, park board members, and even water boards. Geoff Dean has a large fundraising advantage as of now but I expect that will narrow. Will there be IE committees that will form to support Dennis Carpenter?

Does this force Geoff Dean to look for more support from Democratic groups? Over the coming months I predict Democratic activists will see where Carpenter is getting support from and start working to elect Geoff Dean.

The informed voter poll The Star reported on doesn't influence my view of the race much without seeing the questions that were asked. Sure, it is more scientific than the online polls on my blog but that isn't saying much. My polls are to gauge the intensity of the supporters of a campaign and for fun. So far this poll shows both candidates have very energized supporters.

Geoff Dean's Campaign has announced another prominent endorsement.

Click on continue reading for the press release.

I am getting some emails about a recent mailer in this campaign. Please keep sending me information and I will post an entry on it this week.

I have become a follower on Facebook/Twitter of the candidates for sheriff and I have been impressed that both of them have been willing to campaign in front of a variety of groups. I want the next Sheriff to be so dedicated to their job they don't get overly involved with endorsing candidates for partisan positions. Their opinion matters on issues of public safety but at the same time it should be a nonpartisan office.

So far the campaigns have been encouraging in this regard. Has your opinion of the candidates changed since the campaign started?

Geoff Dean's campaign sent me the HTML for a Fanbox for me to post. When Dennis Carpenter's campaign sends it to me I will post it too.

Candidate for Ventura County Sheriff Dennis Carpenter came to the Simi Valley/Moorpark Democratic Club meeting tonight to campaign.

Before the meeting I was leaning to voting for Geoff Dean but after this meeting I glad the election isn't soon. Both of the candidates are Republicans but the position is nonpartisan. Campaigning at Democratic Party events is a sign of good faith for both of these candidates that they have a vision of the office as truly being nonpartisan.

I was taking some video and pictures of the meeting and after Dennis Carpenter asked if I was going to post something to YouTube I joked with him that with some creative editing the video now says he voted for Ralph Nader. I was feeling pretty good with my joke when Dennis Carpenter topped it.

Dennis Carpenter said he voted for Ralph Nader. But that's because he went to school with someone named Ralph Nader who ran for student government. Dennis, you topped me. Thanks for coming out to the meeting.

At the start of his speech he was a little stiff but he mixed in a few self-depreciating lines and answered some tough questions. By the end I am sure he won over some voters.
I have pictures to post later this week of the other candidates at the meeting including a new candidate for city council in Simi Valley.

I have more videos and pictures to post later this week. If you have videos of pictures from today you want posted send them to me.

Former State Assembly candidate Ferial Masry has news regarding her intentions:

Candidate for Sheriff Geoff Dean (R) worked the crowd. Here he is speaking to Ventura City Council Members Brian Brennan and Ed Summers. I expect Geoff Dean's list of endorsements will be updated with new bipartisan additions soon.

I ran into a friend of this blog Denis O'Leary of Oxnard. Denis has been a long time activist for a variety of progressive causes.

State Assembly candidate Susan Jordan gave a speech that outlined her life story and the causes she supports. Her opponent Das Williams was there too. I will post his picture later. Das, if you have pictures from today you want posted send them in.

Here are a bunch of polls related to the labor day picnic and candidates that were there.

Click here for the news story from The Star.

Goeff Dean's campaign for sheriff has posted some videos from his campaign kick off press conference. being that most of us will never met a candidate for sheriff this is an alright way to see them speak. I look forward to forums where the candidates answer questions.

Dennis Carpenter has officially declared he is running for sheriff. Click on the logo above to go to his website. This is from an article covering his press conference:

Now that both candidates have declared they are running the campaign has officially started. I would think that Geoff Dean has the momentum of endorsements behind him for the time being but there are many that haven't endorsed either candidate yet.

I have not closely watched an election for sheriff before so I don't totally know what to expect. Will the candidates try to get endorsements from the local political parties? How influential are endorsements from elected officials outside of law enforcement on voters?

There should be a few forums between the candidates scheduled across Ventura County early on before the money, momentum, and endorsements are all determined. We need a robust debate that moves beyond bland slogans and into specifics.

This poll is really a test of the energy and organization of the campaigns and not an accurate sample of the voters. I will keep reposting it when I post new entries on the campaign.