Live-blogging the OC & Wisconsin. Meet your new Fullerton council! Midnite update: Control of WIS. Senate shifts to DEMS!!!

 

The big money in each of today’s big races – Walker, funded against his recallers by 7 to 1; Daly, backed by nearly a million in corporate Independent Expenditures; and Bushala, sole funder of the Fullerton Recall.

Keep checking back here all day for the latest on today’s biggest races! Other OJ bloggers, go ahead and add in what you find out.

The Fullerton Recall!

Okay, with 10% of the precincts reporting (plus absentees) the recall of all Three Bald Tires looks assured;  and it looks like two of Tony’s candidates are getting in – Sebourn and Kiger – with “cardboard” Chaffee beating the wild-eyed Levinson.  Congratulations, all, and meet your new Fullerton council:

 

Your new Fullerton council till the end of the year: Kiger, Whitaker, Mayor Quirk-Silva, Chaffee, and Sebourn. Quirk-Silva is running for assembly and will leave an open seat; Kiger will have to run again in November.

AD-69:  Tom, Julio and Michele – who gets voted off the island?

10:15 – right now, with less than 10% of precincts reporting, Tom Daly is way ahead at 40%, and surprisingly for a guy who’s supposedly not running, Republican Joe Moreno is in second.  Emami predicted that and I thought he was crazy!  Our most Democratic and most Latino district, and it’s being led by a white faux-Republican and a latino real Republican.  Michele and Julio are battling over 3rd right now, with Michele a little ahead.  I sure hope Julio’s late ground game starts kicking in.  I wouldn’t know WHO to support between Daly and Moreno – I respect Moreno a lot more.

Midnite. Wow.  Things haven’t changed much.  Julio has crept past Michele for third place (did someone stole her bike?)  but with nearly all precincts reporting, it looks like real Republican Moreno vs. half-Republican Daly.  Emami was right!  THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DEMOCRATS AND MEXICANS DON’T GET OUT TO VOTE!!!  I may, for once, back a Republican.

Other OC & California races

9:51 – Prop. 28, altering term limits, has passed.  Californians obviously thought they were shortening, tightening term limits, but it’s more complicated than that.  I think it makes legislators SAFER.

Meanwhile Prop 29, the cigarette tax, is gonna be really close.

It looks like those of us who were looking forward to seeing Orly Taitz as the Republicans’ answer to DiFi may be disappointed – relatively sane Republicans Elizabeth Emken and Dan Hughes are both coming in well ahead of Mission  Viejo’s Birther Queen.  Score one disappointment re. entertainment value.

10:12.   72nd AD. I think we’ve seen the last of feisty Travis Allen.  Troy Edgar, the “big taxer” and Ed Royce acolyte, is comfortably ahead, while Viet Reep Long Pham and Viet Dem Joe Dovinh battle it out for second.  11:20 Dovinh just slipped into second place!  Half of precincts reporting so I guess that could switch back.  But, if all Viets and all Democrats (and enough independents) go with Joe in November…  Shit, I can’t go to sleep now.   12:30 – Dovinh is still in second, Long has fallen behind .. BUT .. Travis, who pulled out all the stops in the last couple weeks with a bunch of attack mailers and that big Boulevard of the Cars sign over the 405, is SNEAKING UP.  I guess we won’t know till the morning if we’ve got a REEP bloodbath or a two-party race!

and the 74th is looking like Mansoor vs. Rush.  I will like that race, and look forward to getting to know Bob.  And it’s nice to see at least one race where tens of thousands of Late Independent Expenditures (LIES) – that’s Munger for Daigle – didn’t bear fruit.

Scott Lay just wrote :  “MEMO TO: Charles Munger, Jr. FROM: SML.  Sorry the Daigle thing didn’t work out (big way). Please check my portfolio for better investment options.”

OC Board of Education seat 1 – That psycho Pedroza who used to run this blog is in third right now, and Elizondo whom this blog preferred is way behind in fourth.  I knew he should change his name.   Fortunately Ken Nguyen, who seems reasonable, is in first right now, hopefully the rightwing extremist Hammond doesn’t catch up with him.  11pm – Oh shit!  The anti-public-education home-schooler Hammond has just inched ahead!  Still early though.  This will be a suspenseful one.  For those who care about education in the OC, that is.

Wisconsin: the Scott Walker Recall (and other recalls)

Word is, turnout in the Badger State today is up to the level of Presidential elections (in stark contrast to sleepy California today.) Polls close there at 6 PM our time, and we’ll keep you up to date. If it looks bad at first, remember that the cavalry of very liberal Milwaukee usually comes racing in last of all, with all its working class voters. But the polls are close as can be, and both sides are fully aware of the national implications of this battle in the larger war of the 1% kleptocrats against the rest of us.

6:45 our time – Results trickling in with Walker ahead 60-39, 14% of precincts reporting. But remember, the Dem areas come in later, a CNN exit poll has them tied 50-50.

7:14 Walker has won. That 7-to-1 funding difference really worked. Game to Koch Brothers and Citizens United.

MIDNITE. But, you know what?  At the same time as this attempted recall of the Governor was the attempted recall of four Republican Senators, and if only ONE of them was recalled and replaced with a Dem, it would shift the control of the Senate and stymie Walker’s anti-worker, anti-education, anti-voting agenda.  And it looks like we have JUST BARELY MANAGED TO PULL THAT OFF – in the 21st district which includes the beautiful town of RACINE – Democrat John Lehman, with all precincts reporting, is 1 percent ahead of incumbent Republican Van Wanggaard – that’s 800 votes.  Now THAT IS SOMETHING I BET YOU DIDN’T HEAR ON THE NEWS!  HA!  HA!!!!!

This was WORTH staying up this late.  I don’t think my Wisconsin friends even know about this!


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.