If you needed another reminder that Del Norte leans right politically, even if we do have about the same number of registered Democrats as Republicans, the LifeStyles Research Co. poll released over the weekend does the trick.

Even though slightly more Democrats were included in the survey of 240 likely voters, 53.8 percent said they would vote for the GOP’s Meg Whitman for governor, while only 37.2 percent supported Democrat Jerry Brown. The gap is even wider for lieutenant governor, with Republican Abel Maldonado leading Democrat Gavin Newsom 50.4 percent to 28.5 percent.

The fact is, we may be the second-most conservative coastal county in California after Orange. We even went for McCain in the Obama landslide of ’08.

Focus on the positive, flaunt your knowledge, downplay incumbency and put on some comfortable shoes for going door-to-door.

Oh, and don’t forget about The Daily Triplicate, which is read by an astounding 96.6 percent of likely voters in Del Norte County, according to a newly released survey.

That’s some of what the 25 or so candidates for local office in the Nov. 2 election could glean from the LifeStyles Research Company survey of 300 people who voted in the last two elections. It was conducted June 22-26.