So, this is the dead zone — the many hours between when you’re tired of stories about turnout and interviews with the Registrar and when local results finally come out.
I hear there’s a national election going on too — maybe we all can tune into that as East Coast results come in to help pass the time.
But before that, I thought you might have fun with this. I’m trying to think back on the Top Ten Classic San Diego Moments in the local campaigns over the past year. You can undoubtedly help me add to this list or find better ones than I can but here’s my 10:
No. 10 — Marti Emerald speculating about getting a second job (or third) if she wins because of the “nothing salary” the City Council job pays.
No. 9 — April Boling supporting the rights of people who want to drink on the beach. I just still have trouble squaring that one up.
No. 8 — County Supervisor Ron Roberts to KPBS Reporter Amita Sharma about what would happen if his tax — Proposition A — to fund fire facilities and equipment fails today: “I’ll be hoping beyond hope that we don’t see something disastrous over the next couple of years. That would be the day I would wake up and feel San Diego you ought to be ashamed,” Roberts said to Sharma.
No. 7 — The classic humanism of this moment.
No. 6 — Luis Acle, incumbent school board member, failing not once, but twice, to get enough signatures to run for re-election leaving freshman board member Richard Barrera completely unopposed.
No. 5 — This “debate.”
No. 4 — Carl DeMaio scrambling up a grassy hill to put a campaign sign up — all the while supposedly unaware that this was his opponents lawn.
No. 3 — “I did not say that. I said, ‘Fuck You, Steve.’” — the mayor to our own Andrew Donohue. Don’t forget the ancillary gem: when Fred Sainz denied his boss could ever have said that. “Laughable.”
No. 2 — Ah yes, remember when the mayor’s campaign manager recruited — or tried to recruit — Eric Bidwell, the proud pot smoking anarchist, to get him to shovel some dirt on the mayor’s rival, Steve Francis, at a debate? Classic. The U-T’s Matt Hall had a good follow up story on this.
No. 1 — City Council Candidate John Hartley: “It all started because I had to take a leak.” This was in a campaign mailer, remember. Now, that means that he had to plan this out. He probably even had some help from his campaign consultant and others. They actually sat there and thought: Hmm. We should start this sentence out with ‘I had to go to the bathroom.’ … No, no, that’s no good. Let’s really show we’re Joe Lunchbox. Go with ‘I had to take a leak.’
Send me your own list at scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org or one you think should replace the ones above.