Being that the districts are so gerrymandered, there are several open seats that are, for all intents and purposes, being decided in the primary.  One of these Assembly seats is the 41st District.  It is currently held by Fran Pavely, who is being termed out.  The fight to replace her is being contested by four decently funded candidates and a fifth (O’Brien) who is trying to run on a shoestring.  They are:

*  Julia Brownley
*  Barry Groverman
*  Kelly Hayes-Raitt
*  Jonathan Levey
*  Shawn Casey O’Brien

The Ventura County Star has published a nice little recap of the district:

If this were a war, there would be four fronts, forming a horseshoe around the Santa Monica Mountains. The army that can take one, fight to a draw in another and keep its casualties to a minimum in the other two will win.

In fact, it’s a political campaign. But the same battle strategies apply in the 41st Assembly District’s Democratic primary. … One front is Santa Monica-Malibu, home to about 30 percent of likely voters. Another is Oxnard-Port Hueneme, home to 20 percent. Along the Highway 101 corridor just south of the county line is the Agoura Hills-Westlake Village-Calabasas front, with 12 percent. Nearly all the rest are farther down the road on the Woodland Hills-Encino-Tarzana front.

Four distinct communities, five separate candidates. A variety of battle plans. (Ventura C-S 5/24/06) 

Pavley has endorsed Bronwley, but first brother-in-law Santa Monica City Councilman Bobby Shriver has endorsed Calabassas mayor Groverman.  This one should come down to the wire.  For more on this race, I would suggest keeping an eye on Tim Herdt’s blog at the County Star.