I'm going to try and write this one post about The California Recall That Lost Big and then get it off my mind and therefore off my blog. In hindsight, Governor Newsom had this won before it began but we all remember when we thought Hillary had it in the bag…so you tend to be cautious. And one thing you forget is that in statewide elections, there's no Electoral College. The person who gets the most votes actually wins.
A month or two ago, there were one or two polls that showed Newsom being ejected but if you looked at the polls as a group, it was clear those were outliers. One of the few that showed him losing later showed him winning by a wide margin but people kept citing the earlier version. All the polls for the last few weeks showed him winning by double-digits and while we still don't have the final numbers, they might be better for him than most of that polling.
I don't see that Larry Elder or those who seek to profit from ginning up a case that the election was rigged have any evidence whatsoever. That won't stop some from saying it because in politics today, it's much better to say "We wuz robbed" than "We wuz beaten." And, like I said, it's profitable. How much has Trump profited from Trumpsters donating to try and prove he won?
Someone should ask Elder or those who try and make the case for fraud, "So how did they rig more than two dozen independent polls that showed the recall failing by wide margins?" I guess he'd just say the conspiracy was even bigger than anyone imagined.
Elder was a terrible candidate — no experience governing, no clear idea of what to do except to ban mask mandates and vaccine requirements. There are Republicans who could conceivably score a gubernatorial win in my state but it wouldn't be easy. Most such people chose not to enter the race because they knew they'd have to take moderate positions and talk about "working with" the Democrats…which would lose them Republican support. Former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer — a G.O.P. moderate who tried to sound like a full-goose Trumpster — is going to finish with around 8%.
By the way: Read my buddy Ken Levine about his experiences with Larry Elder. The trouble with radio talk show hosts is that their job isn't to spread truth and wisdom. It's to get tune-in and phone calls…and while those could conceivably be the same thing, when they aren't, the option that leads to strong ratings always wins. I wish people of all stripes were more suspicious of those who say what they want to hear.
So what did this thing cost us? The Secretary of State is telling us it could be close to $300 million of taxpayer money.
I dunno…I live in a state with severe fires (especially this time of year) and a lot of problems flowing from homelessness and that COVID thing you may have heard something about. I'll bet if we put our minds to it, we could think of something more helpful to do with $300 million of taxpayer money. We might even ponder whether this was a good time to divert the governor and others in Sacramento from dealing with more serious matters.