Well…that could have gone better. For those who weren’t there, here’s some selected quotes that give you a good idea of what it was like to watch the election returns with me and my friends last night :

“Shit, this doesn’t look good”

“DAMMIT!”

“It’s only 2% of precincts reporting. We haven’t lost yet.”

“What?? They can’t call the election yet.”

“Why the hell is he giving a concession speech? Only 30% of the precincts are
reporting.”

“It’s not over yet”

“I wouldn’t be declaring victory just yet if I were him. Only 60% of the precincts are reporting.”

“Shit, shit, shit…”

Oddly enough, that’s also how I spent election nights in 2000 and 2002.

As Gray Davis said in his concession speech, it’s a “no crying zone” here. So rather than focus on the negative aspects of having an unqualified puppet governor who’s going to return us to the deregulation hell that gave birth to the energy crisis, let’s focus on the positive.

The great silver lining on last night’s election cloud was the fact that Proposition 54 failed. The damage that initiative could have caused is hard to underestimate. As much as I hate the whole Republican power grab that got us into this mess, I’d probably be much more upset if the outcomes were reversed with the recall failing and Prop 54 passing. And, as much as I hate to admit it, Proposition 54 might not have failed by such a wide margin if it weren’t for Arnold’s opposition.