What do you want Democrats to do with their Super Majority in the State Legislature?

I support ethics reforms, initiative reforms, education reform and education funding reform. We also need to address rising prison costs.

This article from Hullabaloo is critical of Democrats from being timid with their super majority. I would like stable budgets that do not require bad deals to get passed.

I am also curious what Republicans like Scott Wilk will be able to do in the State Assembly. Will he be able to put together a group of moderate Democrats and Republicans to influence policy? I doubt it but good luck to him in trying.

Republicans have the ability to alter their agenda to be more appealing to voters. It would be in the best interest of their party and our state for them to do so. If they supported moderate education reforms there are many families they would appeal to. But they might have to drop their support for right wing policies.

Scott Wilk, what will you do to support charter schools and reform protections for bad teachers?

Follow me:

Twitter.com/dennert

Facebook.com/briandennerthere

A local Republican activist posted this status update on Facebook. It got me thinking I should post the amount of Facebook supporters for a variety of campaigns.

Here are the numbers for State Senate District

Hannah-Beth Jackson:
247

Jason Hodge:
108

I support Jason Hodge.

What's the best use of Facebook you have seen in a Ventura County campaign?

State Senator candidate Jason Hodge announced he has collected more endorsements from labor groups for the upcoming June primary.

The other expected candidates are Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson and Republican Mike Stoker.

I know Jason personally and I like him. He has experience as a firefighter, political activist, and in his role lobbying for firefighters. He wrote updates from the inauguration for my blog.

I like this campaign photo of him surfing because it represents the Jason I know. He is a serious political organizer while also a local guy that doesn't take himself too seriously. I liked his entry into my photography contest.

I like Jason Hodge, but I am not going to post personal attacks on his opponents. I find it boring that supporters from both sides want to make trivial differences into major issues. I will interview him when I get a chance. I am most interested in his views on education reform.

My question is do how you decide which candidate to support when they have similar voting records or platforms? What makes you want to strongly support someone in a primary when they are ideologically close to their opponent?

I want to especially hear from Hannah-Beth Jackson and Jason Hodge supporters.

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.

( Photo courtesy of Sharon Hillbrant. Sharon serves as a volunteer on too many committees to mention but they include the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee and the California Democratic Party Rules Committee.)

The Susan Jordan for Assembly in 2010 campaign announced the endorsement of State Democratic Party Vice-Chair Eric Bauman. He has been a leader of the Los Angeles Democratic Party for years and was recently elected to a leadership position in the state party. He is also a senior staff member for Lt. Governor John Garamendi.

Click on continue reading for the press release.

Click here for my interview w/ Eric Bauman when he was successfully campaigning to be Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party.

Her opponent in the primary, Santa Barbara City Council Member Das Williams, announced that former State Assembly Member and former candidate for State Senate Hannah-Beth Jackson has endorsed her former staff member for state assembly.

Hannah-Beth Jackson is very well known in much of the district after serving in the State Assembly for 6 years and running unsuccessfully against Tony Strickland for the State Senate. She has the ability to help him raise money and to add credibility to his campaign.

Here is an old ad form when Das Williams was running for city council:

Republican State Assembly candidate Mike Stoker has ridiculed this endorsement with his own press release calling Hannah-Beth Jackson "Taxin' Jackson" like Strickland supporters did during the campaign.

I don't know why her critics, like Mike Stoker, don't spell her name correctly. Is it intentional?

We will see when the fundraising reports come out if local Republicans are really getting behind Mike Stoker. He was endorsed by State Senator Tony Strickland but the real sign of commitment will be if Strickland donates a substantial amount early on.

The Republican Party has already endorsed Jeff Gorell in the primary for the 37th State Assembly district nomination. Do they have the confidence to do the same to help Mike Stoker? Large donations and an early endorsement would show they are planning to seriously campaign for this office.

To all the candidates: Let me know when you have a campaign website up or would like to be interviewed.

Hannah-Beth Jackson clearly intends to keep speaking out on issues important to her including environmental issues and transportation issues. She sent out an email to her list of supporters asking people to attend a transportation conference this Saturday.

Click on continue reading for details and the email from her.

Click here for a blog focusing on Santa Barbara City Council Member Das Williams who is helping put together the conference.

Will she run again? I guess we will find out after the 2010 redistricting is done.

The process for the next redistricting is going to be interesting. California might be losing a House seat after 2010 and Ventura County could be split in so many different ways for state assembly and state senate seats.

The vote counts aren't done yet but in the latest tally Tony Strickland continues to lead. Click here for a short news report on the subject.

In related news rumors continue to circulate that Audra Strickland is looking at what seat she can run for next.

I don't mind people people being involved with public service as a career but it is funny when the same crowd that supports new term limits keep running for different offices.

UPDATE: Looks like it is over. Tony Strickland's allies are declaring victory.

Tony Strickland is now the leader of Ventura County Republicans.

I will write more about this when the final vote count is announced.

The Strickland campaign is now up by 540 votes. Click here for the latest article from Timm Herdt on the subject.

( This mailer from Hannah-Beth Jackson was sent in by a reader. During this entire campaign season I have posted almost every mailer sent in by my readers. Thanks for your input! If you don't see much from your favorite candidate, that is because people were sending it in! To see many of the mailers from the candidates for the 19th state senate district go to the archives.)

The most expensive campaign in Ventura County history is almost over.

There is a final Get Out The Vote Drive ( GOTV ) across the district.

Contact your local office or just show up to help. Both sides will have things you could help with all day. The Hannah-Beth Jackson campaign has firefighters helping out in Simi Valley.

I left the Jackson campaign office in Simi Valley past 9PM and people were still working.

What do you think is going to happen tomorrow night?

Put your predictions in the following format:

Hannah-Beth Jackson/Tony Strickland wins by ______%.

There are prizes. But they aren't worth much.

Let's be honest.

Hannah-Beth Jackson is a liberal Democrat and Tony Strickland is a conservative Republican.

In a state senate district that is close to evenly matched Hannah-Beth Jackson and Tony Strickland have been sending mail according to the registration of the voters in the household.

Hannah-Beth Jackson is proud to be a progressive Democrat and proud to stand with Barack Obama. Have you seen other candidates do that this cycle?

Barack Obama is so popular that members of the Republican Central Committee are paying to be on slate mailers with him that say they are part of the Democratic team!

Any guesses which candidates? If you have seen the slate please scan it for me. I would do it but I am going to a phonebank for Barack Obama. Have you been calling swing states for your candidate?

I have also heard Paul Miller was a part of a mailer for Tony Strickland. If you have seen that mailer please scan it and send it in.

Click on continue reading to see them.

Do you think we will be seeing mail about local campaigns on Monday?

The hits just keep coming into mailboxes even though so many people have already voted. I haven't followed enough contested legislative races to know but is it typical for the party or IE's to wait so long to act?

The polls are supposedly showing a very close race. Click here for a story about the polls from a left leaning blog.

Unlike many people I am not making predictions nor do I have enough information to make an informed bet on what is going to happen in this campaign. Whatever side wins I know that they will look brilliant for winning and the other side will be ridiculed for the poor choices.

That just goes with the field. Try not to brag too much or kick a team when they are down too much either. Both sides should try to be gracious.