The Daily Babble

Election Results Etc.

The results in previous posts have all held. Hereabouts, two interesting contrasts in how the election was reported. Our weekly newspaper, the North Coast Journal, managed to scoop the dailies with election night coverage at the headquarters of the two District Attorney candidates, though when they went to press at midnight, the outcome was still slightly in doubt. But when I turned on our one local TV with an actual news broadcast at 3 minutes after 11 pm last night, the election reporting was ending. I don't know what, if anything, they said about the D.A. race, but it couldn't have been much. The rest of the election "news" was obviously repeated from the 6 oclock version, a meandering story about turnout, and the rest of the broadcast said nothing about the election at all. This says as much about the poverty (in all senses) of local TV news as it does about political disinterest. Yet this station reaped the financial benefits of campaign ads.

The big news in town today was the surprise appearance of the governator, kicking off his reelection campaign in Eureka. He wanted to start where he was least expected to be. Thanks for the endorsement. It will likely be the last time he'll be north of Santa Rosa.

As everyone must know by now, there is no news on cable news stations, so it was pointless to look there last night. I did enjoy watching the last few innings of the SF Giants game: Jason Schmidt pitched the game of his life. He tied the club record for most strikeouts in a game (15) held by pitching god Christy Mathewson in 1904. And he did it by striking out the side in the 9th inning, with several men on base, including the league's top hitter. This in an era when the starting pitcher even being on the mound in the 9th inning is practically unheard of. It was the win of the night.

Nationally and politically, the victory of grassroots progressive John Tester for the Senate nomination in Montana was the most talked about on the lefty blogs. It was seen as evidence that to be successful, Democrats had better talk plainly and stand for something. But victory and defeat were making their usual alterations in the day-after commentary. Though her close finish was praised, defeat exposed Francine Busby as not really progressive anyway, and a case study in the futility of trying to be centrist. But a day after damning both candidates for crappy campaigns and saying neither looked capable of beating Ahrnold, kos praised victor Phil Angelides as a true progressive and strong candidate. And so...off to the races.