County does it again
As San Benito County goes, so goes the state of California.
That’s the common knowledge, according to pundits and
metropolitan newspapers that seem to drop in every few
elections.
And last Tuesday was no exception. Sen. Barack Obama coasted
into a comfortable lead locally as well as across the nation. The
night belonged to the Democratic Party, with Assembly and
Congressional incumbents Anna Caballero and Sam Farr scoring
landslide wins.
County does it again
As San Benito County goes, so goes the state of California.
That’s the common knowledge, according to pundits and metropolitan newspapers that seem to drop in every few elections.
And last Tuesday was no exception. Sen. Barack Obama coasted into a comfortable lead locally as well as across the nation. The night belonged to the Democratic Party, with Assembly and Congressional incumbents Anna Caballero and Sam Farr scoring landslide wins.
It’s really too soon to call most local races. The county elections department will not complete tallying absentee ballots until sometime today, according to a staff member.
But it was on California’s ballot measures that San Benito County showed an uncanny ability to mirror the tone of the state.
County voters voted with the state on all 12 ballot measures, tracking close to state percentages on all but Proposition 2, which sets standards for confining farm animals in California. On that one, local voters still endorsed the measure, but by a considerably narrower margin than the 63 percent endorsement given by voters statewide. That’s understandable, given the large role agriculture plays in the local economy.
But what does it all mean?
Very little, really. Perhaps it means that we’re the most average population in the most average county in California. That’s really just another way of saying that this small county, tucked away at the edge of the Bay Area, is not the backwater that some people make it out to be.
We may be rural, but we’re certainly not out of touch.
