Friday, November 10, 2006

Election Aftermath, CA-04

Congratulations to Charlie Brown, even though he lost to Doolittle. Just like Dave Mejias in Fixer's district, Col. Brown was the first serious major opposition to this entrenched Repuglican ever. He gave it a helluva shot and damn near did it.

Kudos as well to Espresso, Charlie's overworked volunteer for the eastern Sierra in Placer and Nevada Counties. She worked her be-boops off. Part of an e-mail she sent out:

As you all most likely know, Charlie did not win, but missed the target by slightly less than 3% District wide. I understand that Nevada County went for Charlie, Placer did not (and as a Placer County resident, let me be the first to say "Why yes, we are inbred idiots! Thanks for asking!")

You did good, kid. It was all them flatlanders from the western slope. We simple hill folk blame everything on them anyway. I live in Nevada County and I'm proud of us.

Just as an aside, Espresso lives about a thousand feet higher in the mountains than I do, and probably considers me a flatlander. Neither one of us trusts anybody below 6000 feet.

After looking at the Secretary of State's election report (courtesy of our long-lost buddy Travis), all our cow counties went for Doolittle, which indicates to me that the farther you live from electricity and indoor plumbing, the more likely you are to vote Republitard. You shit with the goats, you smell like 'em.

It threw a scare into Doolittle, though. From the Sackatomatoes Bee:

Rep. John Doolittle, sounding chastened by a victory Tuesday that was too close for comfort, said Wednesday he will not run for a position in the House Republican leadership next week and will work to remove the legal "cloud" that threatened his re-election.

"The message from the election is that I need to re-evaluate, to be more in touch with my constituents and see how to best meet their needs," he said in an interview with The Bee.

Doolittle also said he will work aggressively to resolve any questions the Justice Department might have about his relationship with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

"I'd just like them to know what I know," he said. "That above all else was a real drag on my campaign."

That ball and chain and nine-pound hammer you're gonna get in the pen might be a little drag on yer ass too. Happy landings.

In his concession speech early Wednesday, Brown said his strong showing against Doolittle in the heavily Republican district ushered in a new era of politics.

"No Republican will ever take the 4th District for granted again," he declared.

On other issues, Doolittle said he will lose some effectiveness in promoting construction of an Auburn Dam because he no longer will be among the Republican majority on the House Appropriations Committee.

That, in and of itself, is a victory. Most of the folks in the foothills, and those downstream who know what's goin' on, don't want that dam on the American River. The ones in favor of it are developers and others who have a vested interest in continued growth of our already over-populated state. That's a whole 'nother story.

Try again next time, Charlie. You did fine.

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