Looking through the early fog of hindsight, there is some
clarity regarding the election.
Looking through the early fog of hindsight, there is some clarity regarding the election.
Nationally, things are pretty easy to get a handle on – President Bush and Republicans took one on the chin. Democrats will control the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994 and the nation will likely have its first female Speaker of the House in Nancy Pelosi.
In California, Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to reverse field in time to beat his opponent, easily. He did it by running a low-key campaign and drifting straight to the middle, something his fellow Republicans across the nation failed to recognize as a viable strategy. Schwarz-enegger saw the value of ditching the politics of division that have become tiresome to the electorate, and Karl Rove did not.
But what of our local races? At the moment we can only offer a great big, “we almost know, but not quite yet.” We know there has been a shift. We can see that in some areas, Hollister residents welcomed change. We can see that as a county, we remain skeptical, or even suspicious, of Big Promises.
We also know that final election results will not be available for, likely, at least a week. Nevertheless, we’ve learned a few things from this election:
CHANGE: Challenger Eugenia Sanchez appears to have unseated Hollister Mayor Robert Scattini for a seat on the City Council. She is winning handily. Scattini is affable, caring, old-school – everyone knows the mayor. Sanchez is young, personable, bright, and also caring – she represents change. She also won the old-fashioned way, by walking precincts and making contact with the voters in her district. Sitting back on name recognition was not an option for Sanchez.
MORE CHANGE: The race for District 4 County Supervisor is too close to call. Incumbent Reb Monaco and challenger Tracie Cone could not be more different – Monaco is calm and Cone is mercurial and their visions reflect that. A vote for Cone is a vote for a different direction, and many residents of the district were willing to make that move.
NOT SO FAST ON THE CHANGE: Measure S came in with the big money and is losing big. The “David against Goliath” references are flying around. Many city voters appeared suspicious with the pro-Measure S campaign, feeling it was too much, too soon, and too quick.
TALK ABOUT SUSPICION: Voters also balked at increasing the city sales tax by 1 percent. Was this merely a typical “no-new-taxes” reaction or a distrust of the city’s ability to handle finances? The fallout on this decision will be easy to gauge, we are guessing.
So there’s a little hindsight with your vote. There will be more, of course, and when the final tallies are available, we’ll also know a little bit more about ourselves, as a city and a county.
