The candidates differed the most on enforcement of illegal immigration laws. Carpenter noted that the federal government could have done more to seal the border and indicated he would work with ICE. While Dean agreed, and credited Congressman Elton Gallegly for a high rate of deportations, he said that the downside to pushing too hard on immigration is that it will scare illegal immigrant victims from reporting crimes.

"This kind of enforcement would damage the relationship between law enforcement and immigrants who are often the victim of crimes, which might go unreported if they feared the police," Brooks said.

"It's a civil rights issue whenever you set someone aside because of the color of their skin or where they come from," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

The Tea Party movement has an undeserved reputation for being comprised of angry protesters, but the reality is that your typical rally features nothing more than patriotic Americans peacefully gathering to wave flags and register their discontent with government growth and taxation.

The false impression is generated by the out-of-touch elite media and the hostile liberal blogosphere, who are waiting to pounce on anything that will cast the Tea Partiers in a bad light. Progressives are even going so far as to pose as them and behave badly in the hopes that the media will cover it. And you never know, there may be a genuine nut or two that comes out along with millions of other Americans on Tax Day.

Carla Bonney, the chief organizer of the protest in Ventura, is taking the security challenge very seriously.  She's worked with the county and the police department, and she's urged her followers not to engage in verbal confrontations or physical violence (or even the perception of it).

"This is precisely what counter-demonstrators are looking for," she wrote in an email to her list of supporters.

If confronted, people should withdraw to a safe distance immediately, alert those nearby, and notify Tea Party security personnel.

Bonney's even appointed a security director and has 15 volunteers with policing experience patrolling the crowd, and they'll be in close contact with the Ventura PD watch commander should any disturbances arise.

"The police department knows me quite well and they're happy with the way we run security," Bonney told Tim Conway, Jr. during an interview on KFI Wednesday night.

Just how many people will be on hand?

"I'm expecting minimally, at least 5,000, and I'd say more towards possibly as high as 10,000," she said.

Over in Thousand Oaks, Carolyn Guillot is organizing a rally at the Post Office. Last year, two events she organized had incidents of violence, despite tight security precautions--in one, a crazy man charged a doctor that was speaking out against universal health care, and in another, a man got into a fist/teeth fight and ended up losing his finger.  In the former, plainclothes security tackled the man before he could do any damage, and in the latter, the altercation took place right before the rally even started, leaving no chance for anyone to intervene. Guillot bristled at the attention generated by the scuffle, and felt that it made the movement look violent. She was heavily critical of the 9-finger man for throwing a punch before losing his pinky. She's very vocal about protesters ignoring confrontation and dealing with it peacefully.

"Don't argue with anyone who disagrees with our core values," she wrote in an email to her mailing list. "Instead, smile, walk away, and find someone wearing a red-white-blue lei." The people in leis are security personnel. She's notified police that troublemaking infiltrators might show up, and she's arranged to have people observe the crowd for any problems.

Bonney's group is meeting at the Ventura County Government Center from 4pm to 7pm on Thursday. Guillot's group will be at the Thousand Oaks Post Office at Duesenberg Dr. from 12pm to 2pm.

The variety of experience that veteran government and political insider Jim Dantona has accrued over his 30-year career is remarkable. The presidential advisor, State Senate chief of staff, founder of a youth anti-drug organization, campaign consultant, special assistant to a state controller, perennial Democratic candidate and lobbyist is running for Ventura County Clerk/Recorder. Throw in that he played in spring training for the Chicago Cubs in 1969, and we have the makings of one of the more interesting people to run for such a mundane job ever in the county.

Depending on the point of view, one can say Dantona's spent a life in public service--or one can say he spent his life running hundreds of campaigns as a political operative, lobbying and perma-candidate. Experience is usually--but not always--a good thing.

In the 1980s, Dantona worked as chief of staff for State Senate Pro Tem David Roberti, whom he had met at a community event (and admired his "progressive" politics), for 10 years. The relationship was sometimes rocky, but undoubtedly Dantona learned a great deal about the inner workings of government.

In the mid-80's, he worked as a political consultant and by the end of the decade entertained thoughts of running himself. He was rumored to be candidate for County Supervisor in 1989, and in 1990 and 1992 he sought to become a Simi Valley city councilman after a stint as a neighborhood councilmember.  However, when Bill Clinton won the 1992 presidential election, Dantona aborted his campaign to work for the president-elect's national fundraising committee.

In 1995, he ran unsuccessfully for State Assembly. Along the way, he founded his philanthropic organizations BAD (Ballplayers Against Drugs) and worked hard as a "legislative consultant" (lobbyist). In 2006, he was narrowly defeated in a race for Ventura County Supervisor. In that race, Tony Strickland briefly endorsed him before withdrawing his support and throwing it behind Peter Foy, who won the bitter contest. It featured Dantona's questionable financial practices as central campaign issues. The slight must have stuck with Dantona, who took on Strickland for State Senate in 2008 before bowing out, saying that as a "good Democrat" he didn't want to force Hannah Beth Jackson to spend money on a primary when it could be used to defeat Strickland.

Now that Foy's chief of staff, Mark Lunn, is running for Ventura County Clerk/Recorder, Dantona decided to throw his hat in the ring one more time. Whereas he saved Jackson money by dropping out in 2008, is Dantona running simply to cost Lunn money, sticking it to Foy and Strickland at the same time? I'm sure he'd like to win, too, and the political payback may just be icing.

During a lifetime spent on working on political deals, running campaigns, making allies and enemies alike, Dantona's become a polarizing figure in local politics who at best is a well-connected crusader in Democratic politics, and at worst is a jaded and calloused insider.

The office of Clerk/Recorder manages important county records and elections. The question facing voters vis-à-vis Dantona is this: does his type of experience fit the mission of the office?

"It says in the Constitution that there is a right to health, liberty, and happiness," the congresswoman said. Just to show us that this wasn't a slip of the tongue, she was kind enough to reiterate it.

Ouch.

Judging by the immediate reaction of the audience, a full house packed into an AME church, they knew what the congresswoman did not--that she misquoted the Declaration of Independence and then mistakenly referred to it as the Constitution. And Capps was the only person in the room that had taken oath to support and defend that document.

"She doesn't know the Constitution," said Mike Murphy, who was at the town hall. "How can you defend what you don't know?"

Hare has been an advocate for socialized [weep--EI] medicine since becoming Congressman on Memorial Day, May 29, 2006. During the summer of 2009, Hare took a hard line stance on the Public Option, saying, "I will not support any plan that does not contain a robust public option because, a plan without a public option is sort of like a car without a motor. It may look good on the outside, but in the end it will get you nowhere." After many local health care town halls and public polling, Hare has since backed off of his support of the public option. Hare is quoted as saying that, he ultimately supports a public option but that "It [the public option] is not a deal breaker."