Keeping up with the fast-paced 26th Congressional District campaign....

REVIEWING THE MAILBAG -- Republican Tony Strickland's camp, clearly fighting back against attacks from Democratic interest groups, is out with a new mailer today that begins with a question: "Tired of the cartoonish attack mail from out-of-town special interests falsely attacking Tony Strickland?"

The implied answer, of course, is yes. It then states that the election is about "real people from Ventura County," and includes photos of what are presumably six of such everyday folks -- three women and three men, two of them Latino.

The tone is soft, a decided change from the stacks of political mail that sometimes seem to scream at you from your mailbox.

In a separate mailer that hit Ventura County households yesterday, Julia Brownley's proofreaders missed a mistake.

It shows a photo of Brownley standing in front of a wall poster with the words, "Naval Base Ventura County." But the caption beneath the photo says, "Brownley will work to keep Naval Station (emphasis mine) Ventura County and the thousands of related jobs going and growing."

Strickland told me this morning that the error illustrates a point he's been making over and over on the campaign trail: that Brownley doesn't really know Ventura County.

Brownley spokesman Lenny Young said the assertion is simply "a distraction from the fact that Julia's represented Naval Base Ventura County for six years," knows it well, and would work on its behalf in Congress "just as she has in the Legislature."

MORE CONGRESSMEN IN TOWN: With the 26th District such an important target for both parties, it's not surprising that Ventura County has seen a parade of members of Congress come to town this fall.

The latest visitors are Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee; Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, deputy chairman; and Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland. All three are scheduled to be on hand today at the Thousand Oaks Republican headquarters for a lunchtime "phone bank and rally" for Strickland.