During election season, a young Squid's fancy turns toward some crazy endorsements.

Horse Trading…Squid has a thing for elimination-based reality TV shows that leave one last survivor standing. The Republican presidential primary has of course turned into the greatest reality TV of all time, as candidates fall away and line up to endorse the likely winner.

Now that the presidential chips have mostly fallen, Squid’s attention is shifting to some entertaining and surprising allegiances closer to home: The Monterey County Board of Supervisors races.

Incumbent Jane Parker—who has represented Marina, Seaside, much of the former Fort Ord and part of Salinas for two terms—faces two challengers. There’s political newcomer Alex Miller, a CSU Monterey Bay grad and Seaside resident who’s enrolling at Monterey College of Law this fall. (Sounds to Squid like a busy time to be a supervisor, but more power to him—and to whoever put him up to running.)

And there’s former Salinas Mayor and radicchio king Dennis Donohue. He has the support of most of the mayors in the district, who seem to believe that because Parker doesn’t unilaterally support leveling every tree in sight to build sprawling development, that she’s an enemy of economic growth. (In fact, Donohue has already borrowed heavily from Parker’s economic development talking points: They both want to see the region better capitalize on the Fort Ord National Monument and draw recreational tourists.)

Donohue has collected big cash donations from Big Ag, which will make him a formidable campaigner. But Parker has secured endorsements from some unlikely places. She spent years on the dais fighting with dairyman Lou Calcagno, generally a friend to agribiz and a friend to developers. But there was Calcagno, who retired from the Board of Supes in 2014, standing by Parker’s side as a supporter when she went to sign up for the June 7 primary.

(Honestly, upon seeing the picture of Calcagno striding toward the Department of Elections at Parker’s side, Squid thought Squid was hallucinating.)

County Supervisor Fernando Armenta—who also finds himself trying to fend off two challengers to keep his seat—was surprised, like Squid, to see Calcagno back Parker. “Now you have hundreds of milk cows supporting you!” Armenta says he told Parker by way of congratulations.

Parker and Armenta are also doing a strange little dance about deciding whether to endorse each other. “Even if I decide not to endorse anyone in that race, I will not campaign against her,” Armenta says. “She is very respectable, she knows her stuff and she’s well-prepared.”

But in the game of politics, Armenta is biding his time and waiting to see if Donohue also comes knocking.

One of Armenta’s opponents, meanwhile, has been racking up endorsements: Assemblyman Luis Alejo, who’s terming out from the State Assembly, moved to Salinas to run for county supervisor and sends out a press release practically every day with a new endorsement.

On the other hand, Salinas City Councilman Tony Barrera is actually telling people he doesn’t want their support; he says he can’t be bought, a platform that might actually have some leverage as voters Feel the Bern. (Barrera says one desalination businessman—who won’t specify who—offered him a $20K campaign gift. He says it felt sleazy, like he’d later be indebted to that particular project; Barrera declined.)

Ironically, in 2012, Armenta and Alejo endorsed each other, as a trade: Armenta supported Alejo for Assembly, and Alejo supported Armenta for supervisor. That’s what Supervisor Dave Potter and Armenta decided to do this year.

Maybe none of this really matters anyway. For his part, Armenta is busy pounding the pavement, knocking on Salinas voters’ doors every weekend. Most of his voters haven’t heard of Potter or Parker, he says.

“Endorsements don’t determine the result of the election,” he says.

True that, 'Nando. But maybe Calcagno will continue to turn up in strange places.