( Check out this animal rights video that Das Wiliams introduces.)

Das Williams has sent out a press release announcing more endorsements, this time from women leaders. The 35th State Assembly primary for Democrats is between Susan Jordan and Das Williams. Both of them agree on most policies so showing their support from various Democratic constituencies is going to be critical.

I don't live in the district but my top issues would be creating an environment that sparks more private sector job growth and reforming the state budget. What are your top issues?

Check out my interview with Das Williams here.

Susan Jordan, who is running for the nomination of the Democratic Party for State Assembly, launched her website. Susan, the site looks good. I look forward to you adding more content to it.

Her opponent in the primary, Das Williams, has a website under construction.

Check it out.

I don't see a web prescence for Mike Stoker beyond his Facebook page. The top result when I searched Mike Stoker State Assembly was this blog.

I will post an entry when they launch their sites.

Fresh from winning a seat in the House last Tuesday John Garamendi has endorsed Susan Jordan for State Assembly.

Two House seats were up for election last Tuesday night. One in New York where a Democrat won a district represented by Republicans since the Civil War era and one here in California that was represented by a moderate Democrat.

John Garamendi has long been supported by progressive Democrats for supporting progressive causes and candidates across the state. With the newly elected Democrat from New York Barack Obama has two new supporters in the House for his healthcare insurance reform proposals.

It took real effort for Republicans to lose that seat from New York but they joined forces against their own candidate. Far right blogger Michelle Malkin got it going by calling the Republican nominee a "radical leftist" and other bloggers took it from there. When Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson joining the attack on the Republican nominee the stage was set for a Democratic victory. It took the combined forces of Palin, Beck, and other fringe conservatives to lose this campaign. They even made Newt Gingrich look like a moderate!

Susan Jordan should be proud of this endorsement. John Garamendi will be a strong addition to her list of supporters.

Click on continue reading for the press release.

Check out the posts from Das Williams and Susan Jordan:

First Susan posts that she met Lilly Ledbetter at the recent Ventura County Democratic Party Kennedy Legacy event. Then minutes later Das Williams posts that he too watched the speech.

To summarize:

Susan Jordan posts that she attended the Lilly Ledbetter speech. A few minutes later Das Williams posts that he went to the Lilly Ledbetter speech. Then a few minutes after that Susan Jordan tops him by posting a picture of her with Lilly Ledbetter and announces that she has Ledbetter's endorsement.

Sure it could all be a coincidence but it looked funny to me.

Susan Jordan, who is running for the Democratic Party nomination in the 35th State Assembly District, recently announced some law enforcement endorsements. For a Democrat running largely on her environmental protection background diversifying her base of support is critical. This announcement shows she is not a single issue candidate. I consider myself an environmentalist but there are many critical issues our state is going to need to deal with in the coming years.

I would like to see endorsements from people that want to reform education and from business groups next. I have invited Susan Jordan to come on here for an interview when she gets a chance. I have already interviewed Republican Mike Stoker and Democrat Das Williams.

The winner of the Democratic Party nomination is expected to be the prohibitive favorite in the general election.

The interview is scheduled for 2:30 to 4:30 PM. Come back then.

This entry is only for that interview. If you have questions or comments you can leave them on the entry below. Only Mike Stoker and I will be posting questions on this entry.

State Assembly candidate Mike Stoker is currently running unopposed for the Republican nomination to take on the winner of the Democratic primary ( Das Williams or Susan Jordan).

I am going to be asking him questions on the budget, state government reform, taxes, education and more.

UPDATE: Thanks to Mike Stoker for doing this interview. The interview is now over but you can read it on this entry and leave your thoughts on the open entry below. Mike posted his cell phone number if you have more questions. Was there a question I didn't ask that you want to see answered? Post it on the entry below.

I interviewed State Assembly candidate Das Williams ( District 35) tonight by using the comments section of this entry. I asked him questions on education reform, marriage equality, budgetary reform and more. Click on continue reading to check it out.

Das, thanks taking questions here on my blog. I appreciate your time! Come back in a few months as the election gets closer.

If you would like to comment on this interview please use the open thread below this entry.

Thanks to statewide blog Calitics for mentioning this interview and posting a link. I appreciate it.

Santa Barbara City Council Member Das Williams is also making it official by declaring next week he is running for State Assembly to replace Assembly Member Pedro Nava who is prevented from term limits from running again. Pedro Nava is running for Attorney General.

I am not going to be going to the press conferences but I will post any video that is made available.

I want someone that will stand up for the vital services the state runs but will also challenge existing orthodoxies that dominate Sacramento. I want someone that knows the issues and knows when their supporters, interest groups, and party leaders are wrong.

We need major reforms at the state level on how we create budgets and I don't want someone that needs approval from interest groups to do what they know is needed.

What do you want?

I don't know if Das Williams or Susan Jordan is that candidate yet.

The latest round of fundraising numbers is expected soon. With that data we can tell if State Senator Tony Strickland is willing to invest serious money into Mike Stoker's campaign. I haven't seen much that would make Mike Stoker have bipartisan appeal yet, but the election is a long time away.

Click on continue reading for the press release.

( 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.

State Assembly Candidate for the 35th District Susan Jordan joins a rally against cuts to health care funding.

Here is a photo of State Assembly candidate Susan Jordan with other area leaders at the rally:

There was a rally to protest cuts to health care programs in Oxnard today.

Click here for the story from The Ventura County Star.

I expect to see many groups organizing rallies in the coming weeks as Sacramento debates how to fix the budget.

What do you think the chances are that the state will pass a new budget in the next few weeks? It seems that many groups has some sort of veto power over proposals that are being discussed.

Here are more pictures from the annual Ventura County Democratic Party spring fling event. Keep sending in photos you want me to post.

CA 24 congressional candidate Tim Allison campaigns for the Democratic nomination. Check out how many people are wearing his stickers in the photos from the event.

Click here for past entries that mention him. Tim, when you have a website up I will link to it when you are mentioned on my blog. When is the website going up?

Santa Barbara City Council Member and Labor Union Organizer Das Williams was among the many candidates at the event meeting other elected officials and Democratic Party activists.

Das Williams and Susan Jordan are both running to earn the nomination of the Democratic Party for the 35th State Assembly District.

Click here for past entries that mention him.

Susan Jordan has her photo taken with John Ziv ,a leader of the local The Sierra Club. I have heard her campaign was very successful at rounding up endorsements at the event. I expect to see a list in a few weeks.

Click here for past entries that mention her.

In the background is Shawn Stern, a candidate for congress ( CA 24). Shawn, any news from the campaign trail to report?

Click here for past entries that mention Shawn Stern.

I am going to be interviewing a candidate for state assembly soon. Obviously the budget is the most important issue but I also want to know the positions of the candidates on education reform. Any specific questions you want me to ask?

Ever get the idea that advertisers are reading your email or website to target their message? My latest advertiser on this blog is the CIA. Something I wrote might mean that my readers are targets for recruitment into our clandestine intelligence services. For this week when you are coming up with screen names try to see if you can reference spies from history or fiction.

I thought the ad placement next to this event listed online was really funny:

Remember when some liberals were saying they were going to leave if Bush won? I guess some Canadians are now trying to recruit Republicans!

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I didn't go to the Ventura County Democratic Spring Fling but I am posting pictures that are being sent in. Send me any photos from the event you want posted.

Did you go? What's the buzz? From early reports the place was packed with activists and elected officials.

Here are some photos from the event:

State Senator Fran Pavley back from meeting with President Barack Obama speaks to elected officials, candidates, and party activists. Fran Pavely, a former Moorpark teacher, is really popular with environmentalists for her leadership on pushing for new regulations on cars and trucks.

State Assembly candidate Susan Jordan met with many elected officials and party activists at the event. My early reports say her staff was really successful and getting endorsements at the event.

In this photo she is standing next to Ventura County Firefighter Jason Hodge. Jason is a party activist and union leader. He posted guest blog entries from DC when he attended the inauguration. Click here to see his guest blog entries. Jason, my first instinct is to tease you for your new beach bum hair but with the little hair I have I am not going to start something.

Did you go to the event? Which speakers impressed you? What elected officials did you see?

Sidenotes:

1. I will post a Michael Stoker for State Assembly entry this week. Thanks for the links to his campaign announcement.

2. The comments have become increasingly nasty in the last week. Please keep it classy. If you see something that goes over the top send me an email. I don't post which readers asked for a comment to be removed.

3. There are many profound issues of our time that I don't write blog entries on. That doesn't mean I am not interested in them. Oftentimes there are better outlets with more resources to cover them. This includes the stimulus, Afghanistan, Iraq, terrorism, religion, elections in other states, Israeli/Palestinian relations, the assassination in Kansas, details of the state budget and more. I started this blog because I wanted to learn more about our local politics, and I imagine that is why you read it.

Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog.

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