Oxnard attorney Jeff Gorell learned his lesson in 2004. That year, the Camarillo attorney ran for a 37th Assembly District, losing the GOP primary in an area so reliably Republican the race for the nomination constitutes the contest.

Gorell jumped in the fray in January 2003, only to find that opponent Audra Strickland whizzing along to the nomination, helped significantly by her well-known last name: Her husband, Tony Strickland, had just termed out of the same Assembly seat.

With an endorsement list long and deep, Gorell surged in the last six months of the 2004 race but lost by a slim margin made up mostly of absentee ballots cast earlier. So, this time Gorell is getting in early – two years early. Last month, he threw his hat in the ring for the 37th District race in 2010, when Audra Strickland will term out.