I was in San Francisco all of yesterday, so couldn't join in the election coverage like Coker, Scott, Spencer, and Megan. But I spent most of last night in a hotel room updating the Orange County Registrar of Voters website, sure that they suffered another epic meltdown like in years past. The results were showing that sheriff's candidate Bill Hunt–who surrounded himself with hate mavens like Barbara Coe and America's Most-Corrupt Sheriff® Joe Arpayaso–not only was not winning the race against incumbent Sandra Hutchens, he couldn't even force her into a run-off.
]
Not only that, but dweeby* Steve Poizner, who swung farther to the anti-immigrant side in his efforts to capture the Republican nomination for governor than Pete Wilson ever did, was getting beat by Meg Whitman–not just statewide, but also in OC.
The final results show Hutchens captured 51.9% of the vote–a slim majority, but one that nevertheless prevented a November runoff. Hunt captured 28% of the vote, with Anaheim Police Department deputy chief Craig Hunter coming in third at 20.1%. Poizner only got 26.6% of the vote in Orange County, while Whitman received 66.3%. More amazingly, Poizner fared worse in OC–just barely, but still–than he did statewide.
What?! Such pathetic showings by candidates who played to the anti-Mexican fringes in Orange County–Orange County, the birthplace of Proposition 187, the Minuteman Project, Mendez, et al v. Westminster, Doss v Bernal, Rule-of-Law pendejadas, and Taco Bell? What's next–Don Papi Pulido waving the Zapatista flag? Hey, Know Nothings: care to explain why your boys got beat like a piñata?
*I say “dweeby” as the biggest Mexican nerd in OC, so you know Poizner's a dweeb…
