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Watch videos analyzing the November California ballot propositions featuring Timm Herdt and David Maron of the Ventura County League of Women Voters.
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If you think American electorial politics has gotten uglier in recent years, there are a lot of political scholars who agree with you -- and many will be at the CSU Channel Islands campus on Oct. 15 and 16 to present evidence to support that view.

The two-day conference, called "Politics to the Extreme: American political institutions in the 21st century," will be highlighted by a keynote speech on the evening of Monday, Oct. 15, by noted political scientists Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute and Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution, authors of the new book, "It's Even Worse Than it Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism."

Admission is free, but registration is recommended. Those wishing to attend can register here Sessions will be held all day Monday and from 9 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.. on Tuesday. All sessions will take place in the campus' Grand Salon, Here's the full schedule.

In addition to Ornstein and Mann, other notable presenters include former GOP Congressman Mickey Edwards, now vice president of the Aspen Institute; and scholars from Texas, Florida, Montana, Illinois, Maryland and Pennsylvania who will be presenting papers. In addition, California Lutheran University political science professor Jose Marichal, author of the new book "Facebook Democracy," will conduct a panel on "Examining Polarization through Congressional Member Facebook Pages."

The conference was organized by CSUCI political science professors Scott Frisch and Sean Kelly.

HMMMM, WHAT'S MISSING? -- One of the biggest fears that voters in Simi Valley have about the new 25th Congressional District is that they won't get the same kind of attention from their member of Congress to which they've grown accustomed. After all, for the last 26 years they've been represented by a fellow who lives in their city and used to be its mayor, Rep. Elton Gallegly.

The heart of the new district is in the Santa Clarita Valley, which is on the other side of the mountains from Simi in Los Angeles County. Still, Simi Valley is home to about a fifth of the district's voters -- a big enough fraction not to be ignored.

An announcement of an an upcoming candidates' forum being distributed by the Valley Industry Association (no, not Simi Valley), however, may reinforce some of those fears. Here's how the announcement describes the geography of the district: "includes the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, portions of the San Fernando Valley and territory in San Bernardino, Tuolumne, Mono and Inyo counties."

Actually, that's probably less of an insult to Ventura County voters than it seems. That description details the geography of the current 25th District, not the new one. Someone at the (Santa Clarita) Valley Industry Association needs to get a 2012 map.