The lowlight of the 2012 election year in Ventura County was the insulting, ham-handed involvement of the national party congressional committees in the 26th Congressional District campaign. It was a bipartisan embarrassment -- from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Commitee's cheesy, cartoonish mail pieces attacking independent Linda Parks in the spring primary to the Republican National Congressional Committee's equally cheesy, equally cartoonish Internet ads attacking Democrat Julia Brownley in the fall general election campaign.

Privately, even some people associated with the campaigns of Brownley and Republican Tony Strickland complained that the cookie-cutter attacks coming from their supposed allies in Washington were doing them more harm than good.

It didn't take long for these hacks to start up again, gearing up for 2014.

Today, after John Boehner was narrowly re-elected Speaker of the House, the RNCC issued press releases in 26 House districts around the country held by freshman Democrats, including Brownley. These high-brow releases announced that these members were receiving from the RNCC "official lap dog kits" from "Nancy Pelosi's Obedience School." These members were among the 192 Democrats who, as is custom, cast their votes for speaker for the leader of their party's conference -- in their case, Pelosi.

Had any member of the House, Republican or Democrat, voted for the leader of the other party -- now, that would have been something to merit a press release.

INAUGURAL PARTY -- Ventura County Democrats will celebrate the inauguration of President Barack Obama on Monday, Jan. 21, with a buffet dinner and an evening of music and dancing at the French Bulldog Bistro in Camarillo.

Here are the details.