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.