Vern’s Election-of-our-Lifetime Liveblog. UPDATE – watching Thurmond, Porter, and Cisneros SURGE!

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UPDATE Tuesday night Nov. 13 – Katie Porter has jumped ahead of Schemin’ Mimi Walters as we thought she would, and Gil Cisneros keeps picking up new votes especially (but not only) in the LA portion of CA-39, bringing him up to 711 votes behind Young Kim (0.4%).  And guess who’s crying about vote fraud like a couple of baby Trump Girls?  Mimi Walters and Young Kim of course.  Greg seems to be all over the Porter thing, I’ll keep an eye on CA-39.  If and when Gil passes Young up, I’ll make this image the “featured” one which’ll show on the front of the blog.  Gil’s people write:

Fullerton, Calif– Today, the Los Angeles County and Orange County Registrars of Voters updated their ballot count indicating that Gil Cisneros had received a net gain of 1,118 votes in Los Angeles and 128 votes in Orange County, narrowing Young Kim’s lead to only 711. This follows the Orange County Registrar’s update of their ballot count yesterday, showing Cisneros gaining an additional 466 votes.

Cisneros’ gains come after Young Kim’s campaign released a statement boasting a lead of thousands of votes, as well as blatantly making false claims that the Cisneros campaign was tampering with votes. In fact, four different Young Kim representatives have been asked to leave the Los Angeles Registrar following disruptive behavior. Following the false claim, the Los Angeles Registrar released a statement refuting Kim’s claims: 

“We have not addressed anything related to ballot tampering or physical tampering with ballots. Our process is transparent and secured. We orient observer to the process and go over the rules for observation. If observers are not following the rules, they are warned and after repeated incidents, asked to leave; which has only happened in a handful (3 or 4) cases without further incidence. We meet with the lead observers and address issues, if any, as they occur… We respect the role of public and political observers in the electoral process. We have a responsibility to conduct the canvass with transparency; absent disruption or political influence. We meet daily with lead observers from the campaigns and address issues, if any, as they arise.”

UPDATE Monday night Nov. 12 – FEEL THE THURMENTUM!  Just like the OJBlog prognostickated, educator Thurmond has now PASSED UP corporate shill Tuck in the Superintendent of Public Instruction race.  It’s well known that D votes come trickling in late; a corollary is that when there’s an R-on-R or D-on-D race, it’s the progressive votes that come trickling in late.  I think(And like Greg wrote, Katie continuing to close in on Mimi…)

UPDATE Sunday night Nov. 11 – In the neck-and-neck race for the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, honest educator Tony Thurmond is REALLY REALLY nipping now at the heels of Charter School Shill Marshall Tuck!  He’s gone from 2% behind a few days ago to 0.2% … and at this rate he’ll be ahead by tomorrow’s 5pm count!  (PS. Kyrsten is currently up 49.6% – 48.1% in Arizona;  Florida’s SOS has declared a recount in both Governor and Senator races much to the Orange Ape’s Chagrin; Katie is 1% behind Mimi, and Gil is 1.4% behind Young [sorry, “Young” just always sounds wrong.])

UPDATE Night of November 8 – A certain plucky Democrat Assembly candidate named COTTIE PETRIE NORRIS has beaten Republican fedora-wearing half-conservative-half-klepto gleamy-eyed giggly Poseidon-loving Janet-spawn MATT HARPER in the coastal HB-thru-Irvine AD 74 – congrats Cottie!  Meanwhile in Arizona, the great Kyrsten Sinema is passing up HER GOP opponent for Senate!  See, late Dem votes just keep coming in, because we Dems are all on LATIN TIME, even the gabachos amongst us.  So let’s keep our fingers crossed for Gil and Katie…

Nov 6, 11:40 PM – WEEP FOR ANAHEIM.  The People’s Council is dead.  For two years we will have a five-member kleptocratic majority (plus Jose and Denise.)  What a sad triumph for MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF CORPORATE DOLLARS and SHAMELESS LIES.  Soon we’ll be finding out what Disney and friends are wanting for all that money.  Meet your new council:

So far it looks, sadly, like Mimi Walters is beating Katie Porter – we didn’t expect to lose that one – and Young Kim is beating Gil Cisneros handily.  But on the bright side – and this is the victory I would have picked if I had to pick one – Harley is ahead of Dana!  (Still a little close for comfort.)  How nice it’ll be to put an end to Rackauckas’ 20 year reign and Rohrabacher’s 30-year reign … and soon never have to spell those two names again!

11 pm – Congratulations to Kelly Rowe, who looks like he’s gonna beat tireless Poseidon backer Shawn Dewane for the Costa Mesa / Newport seat on the OCWD – this would shift the balance against the boondoggle … EXCEPT … except for two sad facts – it looks like Vanderbilt is losing to Brandman in Anaheim and will probably be replaced by him again, and of course the lamented Phil Anthony died recently and was replaced by a probable Poseidon-loyal appointe (Tri Ta.)

10:49 pm – I’m calling it for three candidates I was rooting for, although it’s early – Spitzer as the new DA, Jose Moreno for four more years on Anaheim Council, and Katrina Foley along with her whole team for Costa Mesa!  (Sadly the rest of Anaheim is looking grim – the kleptocracy is back.)

I’m happy to see Propositions 5 and 6 failing, but unhappy to see Props 8 and 10 failing – a victory for untold millions of scare ads on TV.  What’ll keep us up till midnight is Harley Rouda, Gil Cisneros, and Katie Porter!

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Nov 6, 9:50 pm – well, we learned pretty quickly that Democrats did not (as expected) take the Senate, in fact are probably losing a couple seats; while meanwhile we ARE taking back the House (as expected.)  Florida and Georgia went depressingly; the racist Trumpy campaigns worked on the promising black Democratic Governor candidates.

Locally there are still very few precincts reporting from the OC races we care about;  but there are a few surprises – it looks like Todd may be beating Tony for DA;  Anaheim looks sadly like at least TWO, maybe three, kleptos are going to win – Jose’s doing great against Mitch, but Trevor and Jordan and both way ahead, and it looks like Harry Sidhu may beat the rest of the field unless Ashleigh really catches up – gross!

In HB’s Ocean View School District, it at least looks like controversial racist candidate Gracey may not make it!  In Costa Mesa so far, Democrat Katrina Foley and her Democratic team are totally kicking ass.  For Congress, Levin is beating Harkey no problem, as expected – the other three races are going to be CLOSE!  Rouda, Porter, Cisneros, will keep us up till midnight or longer.

We take our joy where we can – it could finally be the end of Rackauckas and maybe even Rohrabacher!

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NOVEMBER 6 MORNING.  Off to vote now at the traditional Anna Drive polling spot behind St. Anthony Claret Church.  At 11:30 I’ll be at a Disneyland Grand Hotel LUNCHEON WITH POLITICAL COMEDY put on by the Orange County Business Council, trying to discern what master kleptos like Curt Pringle and Lucy Dunn find humorous.  Will there be more smugness or more flopsweat in the room? Maybe I can talk to Pringle for the first time (he’s famed for avoiding critics.) I’ll let you know everything later, but that’ll be a whole other story.

Anyway then I have to canvass some more for Cisneros, Duke Nguyen and Prop 10 somewhere in the North County, and then I’m expected to drop by the Measure L victory party … THEN I will madly check results for you on this Liveblog, with newest updates AT TOP in the time-honored fashion.  What I’ll be most concerned about today – which hopefully meshes with your concerns – will be:

  • Democrats taking back the Congress?  This is almost certain, but I care most about: Rouda beating Rohrabacher, Cisneros beating Kim, and Porter beating Walters. 
  • Democrats taking back the Senate?  This is a lot more of a long shot, but who among us won’t be at the edge of our seats rooting for Beto in Texas, Kyrsten in Arizona, the Dem candidates in Nevada and Tennessee, and the endangered Democrat Senate incumbents?  We need BOTH houses to effectively hold down the Mad Orange Ape for two more years! 
  • And the Governorships of Florida and Georgia, both with historic black Democratic candidates, both really dirty and desperate racist campaigns, and both crucial to 2020 redistricting. 

Anna Drive voting at 9am – busier than most midterm elections here.

Ah, who am I kidding?  I care most about local stuff.  I’ll really be mostly looking at: 

  • Will Anaheim avoid the Return of a Klepto Majority by defeating Sidhu, Brandman, Caldwell, and maybe even O’Neil?  As well as passing Measure L?  (I’ve given up on defeating J&K, there was almost no fight.  And I’m also crossing my fingers for new school board member Juan Gabriel Alvarez.)
  • WILL TODD PUT AND END TO T-RACK’S 20-YEAR REIGN OF INJUSTICE?  (And as a bonus, could we get Sheriff Duke instead of Hutchens 2.0?
  • Huntington Beach – please defeat Dana, Gracey, and Tyler Diep, and say no to madness and racism!  And get a couple good council candidates while you’re at it.
  • Costa Mesa needs Mayor Foley and some of her team.  Orange needs Beatriz! Santa Ana needs Mayor Tinajero and a few of his allies!  Fullerton needs Silva and Ybarra, and all of us need no more Chaffeys!

So be checking tonight for news on all that; meanwhile here’s a little inspirational missive from our pal T. R. Black:

Hello Young Adults!

Sorry to bother you with this last minute reminder, as if you haven’t been bombarded enough in this election season. I have received over THREE lbs. of glossy ads telling me how to vote. I know most of you are keenly aware of our dire political climate. It is not easy keeping up with current events between working 3 or 4 jobs while continuing your educations as well as being bombarded by thumbful, though not necessarily thoughtful, texts, tweets, Instagrams, Grindr swipes, etc. Life is complicated and politics can be icky. I only implore you on the basis of history: Millennials (those under 35) consistently vote in far fewer numbers in Midterm Elections. I know most of you are WOKE and have probably voted early. Thank you!

However, for those who haven’t, might I briefly (I have a 7-page document with over 200 links just for local politics…but I am trying to curb my enthusiasm these days) give you a few reasons to ABSOLUTELY vote in this Midterm Election:

  1. Michael delCampo (the legendary Mitch) is currently being held captive by the North Koreans and won’t be released until the Dotard is removed from the White House. These Midterms are a good start in that direction.
  2. Watching Adam Schiff take control of the House Intelligence Committee and starting subpoena processes to torch the Mafioso Trump Family will be as, if not more, entertaining than re-watching the Godfather trilogy on Netflix. Coincidently, Robert Di Nero is featured in both sagas.
  3. Those of you with Republican parents can have some fun at Thanksgiving*
  4. You can put a shiv into the hearts of my selfish generation of old, white, males with only a high school education, who have fucked-up this nation for decades. Fuck us. Take control of your future. Let history be your guide: it may have taken over a day to build Rome, but less than a made-for-an-iPhone movie like Goldilocks, Nails, or Paranmanjang, to tear it asunder.
  5. You won’t have to go to night school to learn Russian…it’s a bitch…and the syntax is really strange.

I will stop now, so as not to use up the entire screen of your Apple Watch Series 4.

Thanks for reading. See you at the movies (if my passé Movie Pass doesn’t totally disintegrate).

Blessings,
The Reverend “Whitey” Black

* for those of you with extremely rightwing parents, I am still available, for a very small fee, to be your guest at the family Thanksgiving Day feast to add insult to injury.

 


About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.