7:00 PM Pacific Time
This is the most daunting part of this blog, but I’m going to attempt to create a table to show how successful my vote is. I have to confess that peer pressure has never made much sense to me, and I actually enjoy being in the minority, but when it comes to voting I like being in the majority. Yesterday was a good day for me.
| Candidate | My Vote | Winner |
| President | President Obama | President Obama |
| US Senator | Diane Feinstein | Diane Feinstein |
| US Representative | Scott Peters | Scott Peters |
| State Senator | Marty Block | Marty Block |
| State Assembly | Toni Atkins | Toni Atkins |
| San Diego Mayor | Bob Fillner | Bob Fillner |
| San Diego City Council | Sherri Lightner | Sherri Lightner |
| Prop 30 (funding schools) | Yes | Yes |
| Prop 31 (state budget) | No | No |
| Prop 32 (ban on corporate donations from labor unions) | No | No |
| Prop 33 (car insurance reform) | No | No |
| Prop 34 (repeals the death penalty) | Yes | No |
| Prop 35 (increases penalties for human trafficking) | Yes | Yes |
| Prop 36 (amends the 3 strikes rule) | Yes | Yes |
| Prop 37 (requires labeling for genetically engineered food) | Yes | No |
| Prop 38 (school funding: this was really a smokescreen to confuse supporters of prop 30) | No | No |
| Prop 39 (requires multistate corporations who are here to pay taxes based on sales) | Yes | Yes |
| Prop 40 (keeps the current redistricting plan) | Yes | Yes |
| Prop Z (school funding bonds) | Yes | Yes |
5:30 PM Pacific Time
As I look over my ballot, there is one race still too close to call. With redistricting after the 2010 census we became part of the 52nd Congressional district and our representative changed from Susan Davis (D) to Brian Bilbray (R). Brian was challenged for his seat by Scott Peters. As of right now, 20 1/2 hours after the polls closed, the race is too close to call. Scott has 103,878 votes to Brian’s 103,193: that’s a difference of 685 votes. This may be a while.
As long as I’ve lived in San Diego I’ve started the day reading the San Diego Union Tribune. San Diego is a Republican town and I’ve accepted that the newspaper is going to slant right. Last year Doug Manchester, a local developer, purchased the paper and turned it into his own Twitter feed. Earlier in the year he started endorsing his candidates on the front page. In an op-ed piece in August he predicted Governor Romney would win “in a landslide.” Wonder how he’s feeling about that now. Our subscription expired on September 16th and I didn’t renew, but we kept getting the paper. As I was writing this I got a call from someone from the paper asking about renewing. When I explained that I had no intention of renewing until Doug sold the paper or started having respect for print journalism, the caller told me: “OK, that’s fine. Your balance due is $42.81.” I’m assuming she meant the cost of the paper between September 16th and today. Of course, since I never consented to getting the paper, I don’t owe them anything. We’ll see what happens with this.
5:00 PM Pacific Time
Just home from work. The events of the last 24 hours continue to swim through my head, but hey I still have to make a living.
In addition to the Senate races I spoke about this morning, I am also rejoicing that Maine, Maryland and Washington passed ballot measures allowing for same sex marriage. These three states now join the District of Columbia, Vermont, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. A similar measure failed in Minnesota, and 30 states (including my state of California) have constitutional bans on same sex marriage (I’m getting this information from the LA Times). Eleven other states have laws banning same sex marriage. We’re not done battling homophobia, but last night was a good night.
6:00 AM Pacific Time (9:00 AM on the East Coast, 1400 GMT)
I’m writing this on about 4 hours sleep so be advised. It’s Wednesday morning and there’s reason to be hopeful in America. Not only did President Obama win reelection, several other races went well.
- In Virginia Tim Kaine (D) beat George Allen (R). Allen had been a US Senator from 2000 to 2006 but lost his reelection to Jim Webb in part because he referred to a man of Indian descent as a “macaca.” I talked about this on my blog on September 4, 2006. Allen ran again and lost again.
- In Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren (D) unseated Scott Brown (R). Brown was elected in 2010 to finish Ted Kennedy’s term. It’s nice to have it back in Democratic hands
- In Missouri Claire McCaskill (D) defeated Scott Akin (R). Scott was supposed to win, until he announced that women cannot become pregnant from a “legitimate” rape. Time to head back to your cave Scott
- In Indiana Joe Donnelly (D) defeated Richard Mourdock. Last month Mourdock stated that if a women becomes pregnant from rape, she should see the child as a gift from God. To be fair, he described rape as a “horrible situation” and never claimed God intended it. But I still can’t wrap my mind around him telling a rape survivor that she’s just looking at the pregnancy in the wrong way.
More later, no doubt.