You Win Some, You Lose Some

Spent Election Night with some candidate friends at a house party. It wasn't hard waiting, we had pies: pecan, pumpkin praline, chocolate fudge, and good old shoefly pie (but no apple pandowdy). We had brownies. We had whipped cream. Lots of whipped cream.

We had wine. Lots of wine. You can see my refillable growlier of Springhouse Cellars Ruins Red in the middle of the pack.

We kept refreshing the computer set to the County Auditor's web page, waiting for the first tally post 8 pm. The photo is Jane Poucher, waiting patiently.

FINALLY, at 8:17, the screen changed. Mayor Poucher pretty much sealed his reelection with 71% of the vote in so far vs City Councilor Mark Peppel. Whew! Our friend Bill Werst came in with 66% for his City Council seat vs position 3 incumbent Adrian Bradford, who decided to switch to postition 1 at the last minute to try and defeat Bill. Strategy Failure. Our host for the evening, George Rao, given little chance of unseating Bob Landgren, a town name incumbent, was ONE VOTE shy so stay tuned for the late tallies. I believe a message was being sent.

Newcomers to the school board looked good. The tech industry has brought us good folks who know how to help our kids reach for the stars.

To balance the successes, we had our Port Commission candidate Cheryl Park fall short. She will be a player in improving our economic situation none the less. I have no doubt. Mark my words.

And then there were the state items. The Eyman Initiative was way too close for comfort, but it looks good to go down to defeat. Are there really so many gullible voters in this state? Costco bought its way to victory. Sadly, this probably means we'll have another empty storefront in town when the state liquor store/fishing/hunting shop goes out of business because the grocery store and probably the pharmacy will be able to sell alcohol along with all their other goods.

I have taken a bit of flack for supporting Mayor Poucher, an independent, rather than Mr. Peppel, a DINO. Mr. Peppel's votes and attitudes are much more allied with the tea party than he will admit. I'm glad in a way I did not have a dog in this hunt, being outside the city limits, but as the county dem chair, it would have been awkward to say the least. Officially, it was a non partisan race. I was rooting for the guy with the good heart and the honest soul. Not the one who said he was all of the above but whose actions said otherwise.

I wonder sometimes about party politics. I used to think being independent was good, but really, when it came down to it, voting independent meant wasting a vote, or worse, letting the other guys win. The name John Anderson comes to mind....I've voted for moderate R's in New England in my previous life. Good people who did good work. But in this day and age, they would be Ds. No doubt. There is no room in the GOP for moderates any more.

So, off to bed. This was a light weight election night. As we say in the Red Sox Nation: WAIT TIL NEXT YEAR!

UPDATE: Mayor Poucher's lead held at 72.5% after the 11/10 ballot count, taking 402 ballots to Peppel's 152. Bill's held at 66.5% with 376 to 189 for his opponent. George was holding his own, up to 51.94%, leading 281 votes to 260, upsetting incumbent Langren. School board leads held. The Eyman Initiative passed in our crazy county but King County saved us sending it to defeat. The final count will be Nov. 29th, and the election will then be certified.