For a Republican candidate running in a Republican primary, it doesn't get any better than this: an endorsement from the Republican Party.

That's what 37th Assembly District candidate Jeff Gorell received this week when the Ventura County Republican Central Committee lent its endorsement to his campaign.

Gorell announced his candidacy more than two years before the election in the hope of establishing himself as the clear choice for the party's nomination to succeed the termed-out Audra Strickland. So far, things are going according to script.

Party endorsements in primaries are rare except in cases in which a candidate is running unopposed. By locking up the party endorsement early, Gorell just makes it that much more challenging for anyone else to enter the race.