Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

How stupid are these people?

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

You are here: Home / Politics / Proud to Be A Democrat / Open Thread: The California Recall Election

Open Thread: The California Recall Election

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It could, according to the local papers, be some days yet before there’s a full, final tally. But CNN has already put up a LIVE! UPDATE! post (currently standing at 0% – 0%), and you Left Coasters deserve a place to vent…

Reader Interactions

208Comments

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    LA Times live results page

    With 13% reporting, No is ahead 66-33. Remember that mail-in ballots received prior to this morning (which lean heavily Democratic) are reported first, since the counties started counting those earlier today (but don’t report until now obviously).

    Edit: Now up to 39% reporting, 69.4-30.6 No-Yes.

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    @Ken: Up to 44% now, still a 40-point gap (about 2.3 million votes). Elder is toast, even with stronger day-of-vote GOP turnout.

  7. 7.

    Steeplejack

    Boosted from downstairs: MSNBC election gnome Steve Kornacki said that we probably will know the election result later tonight, based on the volume of mail-in ballots. Subtext seems to be that in-person Tuesday votes probably wouldn’t be enough to change the outcome.​

  9. 9.

    guachi

    California resident but live in Georgia. I mailed by ballot off and it’ll be counted later. Just one of the few million that will pad the no vote.

  13. 13.

    dmsilev

    Gap is up to 2.6 million. For context, just under 18 million votes were cast in the general election last year, so that’s a big chunk of the total electorate.

  15. 15.

    SectionH

    As I said to our younger across-the-hall neighbor when she asked us, good for her, if we’d voted already, Mr S said oh weeks ago, and I said not just. NO but Fuck No. She laughed.

  16. 16.

    dmsilev

    @TaMara (HFG): Well, he yesterday released a statistical study of the as-yet-uncounted votes proving that fraud totally happened, so he and reality parted ways a while back.

  17. 17.

    Ken

    @dmsilev: It was ridiculous for the media to focus their attention on Elder. The Green party candidate will be the big vote-getter

    EDIT. Dammit, from the official list I see the Greens have run two candidates so will split the vote. This could let the Libertarian eke out a plurality.

    (“Business Owner/Hairstylist”? “Musician/Entrepreneur/Father”? “Aircraft Mechanic/Actor”?  The occupations are quintessential California.  Though I am impressed by the guy who’s a “Physician/Attorney”, college must have been exhausting.)

  20. 20.

    Fair Economist

    CNN is already estimating 57% in, and a 69%-31% lead of 2.7 million votes. Late mail ballots (not in the estimated vote, I assume) have leaned hard Dem for years. Looks already over to me.

  23. 23.

    dmsilev

    Should we feel sorry for John Cox? All those stunt appearances with the live bear, and he’s not even breaking five percent of the question-2 vote.

  25. 25.

    SectionH

    @James E Powell: That would be because he was the mayor here, and he’s a fucking corrupt typical Republican. There are still lawsuits that he’s involved in. Never mind the only streets that ever got paved were from his neighborhood to downtown… and since that involved a great mess on Harbor Drive to the airport, it got noticed. Oh yes it did.

  27. 27.

    cain

    @guachi:

    I will say thank God, and hopefully it is won with such a strong showing that the GOP will stop using it as a tactic to gain power in a state that is very blue.

  28. 28.

    Fair Economist

    “Leave the second choice blank” seems to have significant influence. On the Cali Secretary of State site there are 1,455K votes for Elder and by my estimates 1,792K blank. That would have supported a meaningful court challenge had the No vote failed.

  32. 32.

    dmsilev

    Looks like the pace of reported results have slowed way down, so we’re probably done with the bulk of the mail-in ballots and now have to wait for the day-of votes to be counted.

  34. 34.

    Fair Economist

    @cain: I hope it makes the Republicans go away, but I still want the recall process fixed. Recalling the Governor should put the Lt. Governor in. Other posts should be filled by appointment until the next election.

  39. 39.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @guachi: ​
      CNN and MSNBC dragging this out in a pathetic drive for ratings. This is obviously a blow out.

    Stop the fight! NO MAS! NO MAS!

  41. 41.

    dmsilev

    Yeah, it’s all over except for the morbid-curiosity question of just how big Newsom’s margin will end up being.

  43. 43.

    MisterForkbeard

    @dmsilev: I really hope the media doesn’t pivot to “Newsom only won because Elder is so bad, don’t give him any credit or believe that people like him”. I’ve seen a bit of this already.

  44. 44.

    James E Powell

    There just aren’t any counties in California where 2.5 million “yes” votes could be hiding.

    The “no” vote percentages in the larger red & purple counties are higher than Newsom’s percentages in the 2018 general election.

  47. 47.

    Flanders Other Neighbor

    So can we get back to fighting fires and dealing with the drought?  Fucking republicans.

  51. 51.

    Chetan Murthy

    @MisterForkbeard: Newsom’s no savior, sure.  But he did a credible job, aside from a couple of modest fuckups early-on.  It could have been much, much worse, and he’s certainly earned the right to claim that he was part of why it wasn’t.

    Add that to the way he pleasantly surprised over and over with good governance early on in his term, and I’m pretty satisfied.  Honestly, his last year-or-so of the pandemic have been a demonstration of competence.

  53. 53.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Fair Economist: I hope it makes the Republicans go away, but I still want the recall process fixed.

    The CA State Assembly agrees with you. :)

    Steve Glaser [Twitter feed]: “Irrespective of the preliminary recall election results tonight, Assembly Elections chair @Marc_Berman
    and I as chair of the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee will release a joint statement tomorrow morning discussing our plans to fix a broken recall system”

    https://twitter.com/Steve_Glazer/status/1437938330746769409

  57. 57.

    something fabulous

    This ridiculous fucking system. I have to say I think they played it as well as possible, and of course reading here is what informed me! I couldn’t get the idea about not running a back-up Dem, but I think clarity of message/rejection of the whole process, will win the day. At least am sitting here drinking and hoping so! Thanks all Jackals for all efforts!

  58. 58.

    Nelle

    I was saying this evening that asking if a candidate will accept the results is crazy, and it builds the illusion? delusio? that they have some power to reject results that they don’t like.  It’s  a silly question and contributes to the “create your own reality” mythmaking that Republicans are so fond of and that the media trots along with.

  61. 61.

    Another Scott

    “This result shows, yet again, that we are a center-right nation and Democrats need to reject radical socialist policies and compromise with Republicans…” – GQP noise machine trope #133992, dateline Sacramento, CA Wednesday September 15, 2021.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  62. 62.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Chetan Murthy: Yep. I LIKE Newsom. I think he made a few mistakes and over-corrected in the latter part of the pandemic, but overall he’s done well and California has been better for his stewardship.

    Decent-to-good governor, I’d say.

  63. 63.

    James E Powell

    We should keep an eye out for the worst press/media mischaracterizations of these results

    Like this from Jill Cowan @ FTFNYT

    Many of the biggest pro-recall numbers we’re seeing are from smaller, rural counties in far northern California, where residents bridled at pandemic restrictions.

    First, there are no big numbers from those counties.

    Second, those are right-wing Republican counties. Those votes have nothing to do with pandemic restrictions.

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    @dmsilev:

    I see I don’t actually have to answer you but will in any event. I feel sorry for anyone within a 50 mile radius of John Cox. When he was running for gov I got an email from him, somewhat condescending. I replied, in polite, enlisted navy language. (That means minimal swearing, not every other word.) And unsubscribed. The second email was more condescending. I took the polite right out of my reply and went full enlisted navy speak. And unsubscribed again. The third email was purported to be from his wife, berating every democrat for not thinking he was a swell guy who was going to correct all the democratic mismanagement of CA and therefore we should vote for him. I answered back in E7 navy language. That causes the paper to get rather warm and if it goes on too long it may catch on fire. I believe that Mr. Cox misunderstood the CA voter majority.

    @Chetan Murthy:

    I don’t. I suspect that while the meal would taste like crap, the bear would still clean his plate.

  65. 65.

    HumboldtBlue

    I read a lot of hand-wringing in the past two weeks ago but I gotta say I never expected anything other than a resounding win.

  68. 68.

    JWR

    @MisterForkbeard:

    I really hope the media doesn’t pivot to “Newsom only won because Elder is so bad

    Yeah, local CBS affiliate has mentioned how Newsom’s voters were energized by Elder’s entrance. But overall, TV news in L.A. seems to be less crazy than it is in other parts of the country.
    Newsom speaking now.​

  69. 69.

    Chetan Murthy

    @MisterForkbeard: Interesting: can you tell me what you thought he got wrong, later in the pandemic?  I thought his mistakes were in the early part, specifically May 2020 when he reopened too quick.  But since then, I thought he did OK.  I’d be interested in comparing notes.

    And yeah, I didn’t come into the pandemic liking him, but by the time we exit, yeah, he’ll have my vote for higher office, if he seeks it.

    As will, Mayor London Breed.  She was not my first choice when she ran, but she sure AF will be next time (or for whatever she wants to do).

  70. 70.

    Hoppie

    Very sore butt is relieved as Californian (adopted) , glad we did the obviously right thing here, we should grind them in the dirt;  this disproves ALL their narratives.  Duh.

  71. 71.

    SFBayAreaGal

    I am one happy person. I hate this recall,  I hated the recall against Davis. The ability to recall a governor has to change.

  73. 73.

    Another Scott

    Great job jackals and California peeps.  We can’t take any election, for any office, for granted.  Turnout is essential to keep making progress.

    Forward!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @JWR: I wonder how true that is.  I know many activists who mailed postcards, phone banked etc. for No on the Recall and we were planning to do that work even before Elders became the frontrunner.

  75. 75.

    Hungry Joe

    Now we sane Californians have to forge a ballot to amend the nutso state constitution that allows such dangerous nonsense. Like, if there’s a recall, the Lt. Gov. takes over; that makes it a win-lose for insurrectionists. And make it illegal to pay petition gatherers; that should make it appropriately difficult to hoodwink voters into circumventing the legislature via ballot initiatives.

    (This is Hungry Joe. No idea why it reads “Hungry J.”)

  76. 76.

    Fair Economist

    LOL – Caitlyn Jenner is behind Angelyne, who is basically a joke LA celebrity; the model for the “Stacy” hallucinations of incels although she’s now about 70 and looks like a clown.

    Though I must say if I *had* to pick one of them for Governor, I’d pick Angelyne too.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott:

    Great job jackals and California peeps.  We can’t take any election, for any office, for granted.  Turnout is essential to keep making progress.

    along those lines… Boston native Lawrence O’Donnell mentioned that there’s another election today, for mayor of Boston to replace Marty Walsh. Anybody have a strong opinion or scorching hot take? Is it a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party?

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Likely along the same lines as me.

    Posted something, they took the opposite meaning of the words and temporarily suspended me. So they now have one less person on their site. Bet it doesn’t bother them one bit.

  80. 80.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Damn, I didn’t realize how much this damn recall was stressing me until it was over.

  81. 81.

    Jay C

    Well, the 9:00/12:00 figures show “No” still prevailing at about a 67-33% margin with about 60% of the vote reported.

    So Gavin Newson, it seems, will be seen to be retaining his job by, roughly, a 2-1 margin. Or at any rate, north of 60%.

    [GOP spin] Obviously, some sort of election fraud MUST be involved!![/GOP spin]

  82. 82.

    Another Scott

    @Ruckus: Cole seems to be out of Twitter jail now.

    Probably the 15 year old in Myanmar that Jack has hired to do their moderation was confused by all of the pictures of Tunch, or something.

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  83. 83.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: You and me both.  Nice to be able to breathe easy.  I know that even if the worst had come to pass, our mayor and the mayors and health directors of the Bay Area counties would have banded together and kept us safe, but it’s nice to know that that sort of pitched battle won’t be necessary.  Whew.

  84. 84.

    kindness

    Gavin will do fine. I never really worried about it. What has me still pissed off is Republicans started collecting signatures for a recall the day Gavin was sworn in. Our recall laws need updating.

  85. 85.

    Ksmiami

    The GOP should be billed for the fucking recall. 267 million dollars to try and back door a way into power

  86. 86.

    James E Powell

    John Cox got 4.7M votes in the 2018 general election. He’s got a little over 200K right now. He’s a distant 5th place on Question 2. I wonder if he thought he’d be more popular

    I also wonder if this means Elder will run in 2022.

  88. 88.

    Susan D. Einbinder

    Having voted in every single election since 1981 and lived in CA since 1993, I can say with certainty that I have never – ever – received so many phone calls – and endless text messages – urging me to vote against the recall.  Seriously: It was about 25 or so, from at least 5-6 different groups.  If this level of organizing can be maintained for the midterm elections, I have some hope ….

  91. 91.

    laura

    This bullshit attempt at overturning an election almost three years later with zero reasonable justification is your modern republican party testing the limits. I am heartened that the attempt is trending massive beatdown. Good luck with the election audit grift here and in other states. Shut this shit down hard.

  93. 93.

    JWR

    @UncleEbeneezer: ​

    I wonder how true that is.

    I dunno, maybe that was just the narrative they chose to keep the stories going? But it’s true that Elder’s proposals were, as a law prof on TV just said, “the gift that kept on giving” for the Newsom campaign.

    Also, thank you soooo much for working your butts off to GOTV!

  96. 96.

    James E Powell

    One press/media narrative I’d be we will not hear: “Despite frustrations over pandemic, Newsom remains a popular governor.”

  98. 98.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Chetan Murthy: London Breed did pretty well too.

    Newsom was actually a little too aggressive with Covid at times. It’s pretty minor, but he held onto restrictions in some cases where it wasn’t necessary. But I really don’t fault anyone for being careful during a pandemic.

  100. 100.

    Shalimar

    @MisterForkbeard: The political science professors that the L.A. CBS station has on are both saying this solidifies Elder as the Republican leader in California going forward.  Doesn’t matter how bad he is as a candidate, they’re gonna pick him again next year.

  102. 102.

    H.E.Wolf

    @UncleEbeneezer: “I know many activists who mailed postcards, phone banked etc. for No on the Recall and we were planning to do that work even before Elders became the frontrunner.”

    I teamed up with my mom. I wrote the postcards, she sent me the postcard stamps she had at her house. :)

  103. 103.

    trollhattan

    Larry Elder checks sell-by date, takes Sharpie, scribbles out 2021, writes in “infinity,” announces run for Most Awesome Larry seat in California government, begins initiative process to add Most Awesome Larry position to California state government.

    Larry Elder was leading the pack of 46 replacement candidates Tuesday evening as initial results from the effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled in.

    At 8:46 p.m., the Associated Press called the election in favor of Newsom. Since the recall effort failed to earn a majority of votes on question one, the second question, which allows voters to pick a replacement candidate, is moot.

    It is unclear whether any of the replacement candidates will run again against Newsom in the regularly scheduled June 2022 primary election. Those hoping to challenge Newsom have until March 11 to declare their candidacy.

    Elder, on Tuesday, told radio station KMJ Now that he has become a “political force” in California, and he doesn’t intend to “leave the stage” if he loses the recall.

    Elder, a Republican, led with 42.6%of the vote on question two, followed by YouTuber Kevin “Meet Kevin” Paffrath, a Democrat, at 11% and former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer at 9.8%.
    https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article253887328.html#storylink=cpy

    Buh-bye loser dude. Go smoke some weed with Larry’s Girl.

  104. 104.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Cacti: My concern is the GOP will reanimate Ronald Reagan’s corpse and run it in  2022 for Cal Governor.

    That would be republication.

  105. 105.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @JWR: True.  I did see alot of my less politically connected FB friends mentioning Elders.  So I think his bonkers shit really did capture alot of attention.

  106. 106.

    Mary G

    BWAAAAAAAAAAAA"A shelacking in progress"-Jake Tapper pic.twitter.com/ffXXbJQNE8— Brown Eyed Susan (@smc429) September 15, 2021

    I cannot find a single one of my many posts here or on Twitter telling people not to worry, that Newsom’s got this. Should’ve bookmarked one to say “told ya so” on Twitter, because I am a petty braggart.

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    In which for maybe the first time ever, I read a Josh Kraushaar tweet without gagging.

    Josh Kraushaar @HotlineJosh 24m
    Quirky recall gubernatorial elections generally aren’t the most predictive. But one clear lesson from the California results: not-ready-for-primetime Trumpist Senate R candidates will rally Dem turnout and lose swing voters. Major Senate stakes in states like OH, PA and GA.

    I think he might be right, and I’d add No Carolina, and maybe Wee Marco and Nutty RonJon will trump themselves out of a job.

  109. 109.

    James E Powell

    @Shalimar:

    That’s what I was wondering. And add in the fact that there aren’t any regular old Republicans who want to get into an hopeless and possibly career ending race. Better to hold onto one’s phony baloney job in a deep red county or congressional district.

  110. 110.

    Chetan Murthy

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Newsom was actually a little too aggressive with Covid at times.

    Whoa, really? I am (as I wrote above) of the opposite persuasion.  Can you give examples where he hung onto restrictions too long?

  111. 111.

    Roger Moore

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Interesting: can you tell me what you thought he got wrong, later in the pandemic?

    I never liked his “we’re going to reopen the whole state on June 15th” business.  I thought it made more sense to keep doing things county by county, or maybe region by region, and the date was completely arbitrary.  It really felt to me like he was doing it for political reasons related to the recall rather than based on public health.

    That’s backed up by his unwillingness to do anything statewide to respond to Delta; all the actions to reimpose restrictions since then have been by local health officials, not the governor.  The result is that too many county officials in more conservative areas have been unwilling to do anything, and Delta has been absolutely crushing the north and the area around Sacramento.

  112. 112.

    Anne Laurie

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Boston native Lawrence O’Donnell mentioned that there’s another election today, for mayor of Boston to replace Marty Walsh. Anybody have a strong opinion or scorching hot take? Is it a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party?

    It’s a primary — two of the five candidates will go on the ballot in November.  The leading candidates were four women of color, and one (very much trailing) male ditto.

    According to local tv news, city counselor Michelle Wu won, and acting Mayor Kim Janey has conceded (she was getting less than 10 percent of the ballots counted).

    All four leading candidates had fairly similar platforms, but from the little I saw (there are only 24 hours in a day & I don’t actually live in Boston), Wu and the probable second-place finisher were considered the most ‘centrist’ candidates, FWIW.

  113. 113.

    Anne Laurie

    @James E Powell: I also wonder if this means Elder will run in 2022

    Don’t know if he’ll run, but he started grifting collecting funds to challenge the election yesterday.  So you’ll get to hear more about him, whether you wanted or not.

  114. 114.

    RaflW

    Oh, lord. Here comes the narrative-making.

    Kasie Hunt @kasie
    Obviously California is a Special Place — but the fact that a Democratic national star in waiting *faced* a recall and then had to fight hard for it midway through the campaign does say a lot about the potential challenges Democrats face across the map

    Ms Hunt is CNN’s Chief National Affairs Analyst.

    Oh, and Kasie? It sure looks like Newsom chose to fight hard for it. Partly because the news hyped one outlier poll. And given the trouncing, yeah he probably over did it a tad but that doesn’t bode ill for Dems. Quite the opposite! If we need to staff up, raise funds, and motivate voters … WE DO.

  115. 115.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Anne Laurie: I’m sure within 24 hours we’ll hear that it’s the kind of account that lets Elder spend some large percentage of the money anyway he wants, like on the Larry Elder Bigger Vacation Home for Freedom Fund.

    We’ll hear that, his supporters won’t, and a couple of months it will be “My Dad died and I discovered he was sending a third of his Social Security to Larry Elder”

  118. 118.

    dmsilev

    @RaflW: That’s an absurd take. California, for silly historical reasons, has a very low bar to kick off recall elections, and once the GOP managed to clear that bar of course Newsom was going to fight the recall. Here’s a better take: The GOP, by unifying around a right-wing extremist talk-radio host, threw away their best chance to win any state-wide office, thus demonstrating the absolute lock the lunatic fringe has over the party.

  120. 120.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Roger Moore:

    The result is that too many county officials in more conservative areas have been unwilling to do anything, and Delta has been absolutely crushing the north and the area around Sacramento.

    I don’t live in one of those areas, so I can imagine your frustration.  That said, from what I read about things up in Lassen Co. and also down in the LA area (Huntington Beach), it seemed to me that there was very little he could do to impose his will on people.  The most he could do, was to signal to people the seriousness of the situation, by levying health orders.  But without any actual bite, of course, b/c that’s the case everywhere in our country.

    The part that I thought Newsom did well, was PPE, vaxx distribution, getting homeless into shelter, food support, the schools, stuff like that.  After the debacle of last summer, and the growth of massive resistance in some areas, to distancing and masks, I gave up believing the state could use mandates to *force* people to be civic-minded.

  121. 121.

    RaflW

    re: my earlier, LOL:

    Tzippy Shmilovitz @Tzipshmil
    Replying to @kasie
    You’re not supposed to copy paste the RNC talking points, Kasie. At least put some effort.

    Also, can this plz be the end of Caitlyn Jenner’s political ‘career’? Just crushed.

    eta @Mary G that is helpful! But my worry is Kasie will be spinning this narrative on CNN, oblivious to how she’s ratioed on twitter.

  123. 123.

    trollhattan

    @RaflW:

    IDK what California Republican could have made it a race; I suppose a popular celebrity might have lured more “Yes” votes than we saw tonight and also easily rolled over the Republican candidates to make it closer, but even with the tossup polls of a month back it’s hard to envision this working in 2021. 2003 was a very different time and place.

  126. 126.

    dmsilev

    Worthy of note: Last year, Joe Biden absolutely trounced Donald Trump in California, winning by 29 percentage points. Right now, Newsom is actually running four percentage points better than that. I imagine the margin will drop somewhat as the Election Day votes are fully tallied, but this was a historic beatdown that in a sane world would demonstrate that running a Trumpism campaign here is a really bad idea.

  127. 127.

    JWR

    @Roger Moore: ​

    That’s backed up by his unwillingness to do anything statewide to respond to Delta; all the actions to reimpose restrictions since then have been by local health officials

    Here’s hoping this big win gives Newsom whatever leverage he can muster over nutjobs like the Inland Empire sheriff who just yesterday announced that he won’t be imposing any mandates on his department.

  128. 128.

    RaflW

    @trollhattan: I’m enjoying the hot takes on twitter lamenting that the GOP ‘didn’t run a moderate’ when of course they did, and he got most of his votes (apparently, if I read a data nugget correctly) from people who first voted NO on the recall question!

  130. 130.

    Leslie

    @Susan D. Einbinder: I received at least a dozen texts, starting in March, from various anti-recall groups. The last one was on August 26.

    Somewhere along the way, however, someone sold my phone number to the GQP, so sometimes I get texts from them too. Starting last Thursday, they texted me every single day to remind me to vote, including twice today.

  132. 132.

    JWR

    Oh boy! Larry Elder just came onstage and announced that he’s gonna give a very long speech. Woo f***ing hoo.

  133. 133.

    Chetan Murthy

    @bluehill: I kinda think so, yeah.  If it weren’t for the fact that we already have a VP who’s pretty damn excellent, I’d think he’d be Presidential timber at this point.  But …. well, I’m damn sure more eager to vote for President Harris, than for President Newsom.

  134. 134.

    Chetan Murthy

    @bluehill: Wouldn’t mind Senator Newsom.  But OTOH, it’s late, and I’m sure I could come up with other great choices for Senator to replace Feinstein.

    CA has a really deep bench.  That’s a good thing, but OTOH, where do they go?  There’s a limited number of step-up jobs.

  136. 136.

    Comrade Colette

    @Ksmiami:

    The GOP should be billed for the fucking recall. 267 million dollars to try and back door a way into power

    My dentist was railing about this today – “instead of spending money on this, they could have given it to the homeless!” And she’s a Republican.

  137. 137.

    Edmund Dantes

    Recall elections thrive on low turnout motivated to vote people.

    An all mail election where everyone gets a ballot sent to them and can drop it off pretty much anytime is kryptonite to that. It’s also less susceptible to random acts of giant rainstorm, weird ass problem in someone’s day making it impossible to get to polling place, etc.

  138. 138.

    Roger Moore

    @trollhattan:

    I think the Republicans just don’t grasp how frustrated and angry so many people are about their intransigence on the pandemic.  They really think their tactics will fire up their base while the rest of us will think it’s fine.  I think they actually buy the whole thing about wearing masks and getting vaccinate being personal choices, and they simply don’t understand that we see refusal to do those things as a direct threat to ourselves and our loved ones.

  139. 139.

    JWR

    Elder: “You notice I call them ‘government’ schools, not public schools.” And finally the TV station, realizing he’s just babbling on and on, cuts away.

  141. 141.

    SFAW

    @TaMara (HFG):

    If it holds at 70-30-ish, how crazy is Elder going to have to sound to keep the voter fraud lie going? I say full Sydney Powell.

    You smug libtards will be sorry. There is strong* and convincing** evidence that approx. 25 Million of the “NO” votes were either done illegally, or were just made up by the lying Demon-crap election boards. So say “hello” to Governor for Life Elder, libtards.

    * where “strong” == nonexistent

    ** “convincing” if you’re a moron or insane or lying or some combination of those three.

  142. 142.

    Mary G

    Bit of a surprise?

    ELDER CONCEDES

    “Let’s be gracious in defeat,” Elder says. “We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war.”
    — Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) September 15, 2021

    Isn’t he supposed to rant and rave about rigged results for months to come?

  143. 143.

    Comrade Colette

    @Mary G:  Eh. There’s plenty of time for him to reverse course based on “new evidence.”

    And enjoy your well-earned “I told you so.”  ;-)

  144. 144.

    SFAW

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Wouldn’t mind Senator Newsom.

    May I make a counter-proposal? Someone should convince Susie FurrowedBrows that DiFi — a “moderate” — wants her to run for DiFi’s Senate seat, and that she has an excellent chance of winning. Hell, I’ll even chip in for Susie’s moving expenses.

  146. 146.

    Chetan Murthy

    @SFAW:

    May I make a counter-proposal?

    Well, I did allow that it was late, and I could probably think of a bunch of other great choices, too.

  147. 147.

    JWR

    @Mary G:

    Isn’t he supposed to rant and rave about rigged results for months to come?

    A TV analyst just mentioned that, said that when you lose 2 to 1, it gets a bit harder to take the “voter fraud” route. I’d bet that Elder was just testing the waters with his voter fraud bit the other day, which turned into something of a mini-scandal, with his campaign announcing that it had detected some shenanigans in the vote count before a single vote had even been counted.

  152. 152.

    Edmund Dantes

    Also I still couldn’t understand people going “where’s newsom ads?”  “Where’s newsom gotv?” Etc.

    when he was “losing” there was a lot of this in the comments even though there were a couple of us Californians pointing out we were seeing a ton of them. Also he outspent people 2-1.

    I think have to get used to the idea that there are lots of ways these days to micro-target campaigns. With a lot on digital you aren’t going to see the same stuff others do.

    I of course can’t speak to TV as I cut the cord long ago. But I was running into newsom stuff all over the intertubes. It started with “lower tier” Dem politicians.  It eventually ramped up to the last week with Obama ads.

  154. 154.

    The Dangerman

    How many million$ did CA just flush down the crapper for this little exercise? It’s been a long day but I’m gonna call CA the deepest blue state in the Country (sure there are pockets of red; we call those deserts and backwaters). What a waste.

  160. 160.

    prostratedragon

    Ruckus @64 describes a sequence of exchanges between him and the Cox campaign that reminds me of “The Horror of Rejection,” Bruce McCall/New Yorker. Therein Mr. McCall gives a fictional(?) sequence between a publisher and Stephen King, in which the publisher sends rejection notices, while Mr. King’s replies are illustrated. Things gradually get out of hand. Worth a look if you have archive access.

  162. 162.

    PJ

    @bluehill: ​
      I don’t live in California, and I don’t follow California politics at all. But the man chose to marry Kimberly Guilfoyle, the now-girlfriend of Don Jr. If that doesn’t signal a lack of critical faculties, I don’t know what could.

  165. 165.

    Morzer

    @JWR:

    Dunno about that. DiFi appears to have lost enough steps for a pretty impressive marathon. Apparently her staff are having to do repeat repeat briefings because she… forgets… that she was briefed in the first place.

  168. 168.

    trollhattan

    @The Dangerman: ​
     County officials predicted costs nearing $150 million just for their part–mailing and counting ballots, setting up polling places, etc.

    Advertising has to have been several times that much. Cost to our nerves and psyche, priceless.

    Opportunity cost for the governor campaigning instead of governing…?

  172. 172.

    The Dangerman

    I kinda get it. Gotta go for the Hail Mary Backdoor play for the Righties. The chances of a Republican winning a statewide election in CA the traditional way anytime soon is roughly the same as the Laker Girls bus breaking down in front of my house. Theoretically possible but highly unlikely.

  173. 173.

    Martin

    @The Dangerman: The right way to think of this is that there are now a bunch of election experts crafting a new ballot initiative to reform the recall process.

    Because this wasn’t close, because the motivations for the recall were such bullshit, voters are REALLY likely to reform this process in a way that wouldn’t have been possible with a closer race. So, this will have a positive result, in time.

  174. 174.

    JWR

    @PJ: If that doesn’t signal a lack of critical faculties, I don’t know what could.

    I wouldn’t blame Newsom for that. I have a friend who went from being a very vocal supporter of Ronald Reagan, to a sort of BernieBro purity pony in the course of just a few years. People change, and often do so in the most extreme ways, careening like a hockey puck from one end of the political spectrum to the other.​

  175. 175.

    trollhattan

    @SectionH:

    I thought that too, but was informed the USSC has determined since money=speech you cannot prevent payment for collecting petition signatures. Which made me sad.

  177. 177.

    SectionH

    @Chetan Murthy: How about Toni Atkins – who’s currently Pres Pro Temp of the CA Senate, up from running most of the rest of the Assembly the last few years.
    Never heard of her? Surprise, surprise. Also too, she’s out and proud. Yeah, we’ve been voting for her for more important jobs for years now. Which she seems to be very good at so far.

  179. 179.

    KrackenJack

    I’d be willing to bet a modest sum that “blank” on question 2 will end up with an actual majority.

    Some of the GOP establishment candidates are trying to blame Larry Elder rather than their own crackpot voters who made him a double-digit front runner in the polls and the perfect boogeyman.

  183. 183.

    Jay C

    @RaflW: btw, latest numbers showed (in round figures) – Caitlyn Jenner getting around 55,000 votes out of around 9 million cast.

    I’d demand a recount…..

  184. 184.

    Dan B

    @Jay C: My first, very random thought, was,”There are that many conservative trans people in California?”
    Immediately it changed to, “Did any trans person vote for Caitlyn Jenner?”

    Other thoughts were: Why? Clueless? In need of long term counseling. Think so. Etc.

    There are other trans people who’ve been successful in politics. I’ve been in admiration of them. Jenner is an embarrassment. Absent her wealth and platform I’d have some sympathy.

  185. 185.

    Mary G

    @Dan B: She’s been in the spotlight her whole life, from the Olympics to the Wheaties box, to whatever she did on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” to affirming her real trans identity. She probably thought that if her fellow reality star TFG could be president, she could waltz right into the governor’s job, and probably has no one around her to say she’s delusional. It’s sad. She could’ve been a force for trans acceptance instead of being a clown for the crazies who despise her.

  186. 186.

    Brachiator

    It’s looking good for Newsom. Over the last few days, some media outlets were trying to stir up some partisan outrage over Newsom’s handling of the pandemic. It didn’t really stick.

    I would like to thank the states of Texas and Florida for helping get out the California vote. Even some people who wanted to recall Newsom decided that there were limits to the amount of insanity they were willing to flirt with.

    Things are looking good, but there are still a lot of ballots coming in. I mailed mine last week and soon received an acknowledgement. Here is what happens next:

    “The counting of ballots does not end on election night,” the Registrar’s Office says.

    There are mail ballots that must be tallied — as long as they are postmarked by Sept. 14 and arrive at the Registrar’s Office within 7 days of the election….

    After the Election Night votes are tallied, the Registrar of Voters Office expects the next release of unofficial results to come after 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 16…

    The election will be certified by the California Secretary of State on October 22.

  188. 188.

    Brachiator

    @Edmund Dantes:

    I think have to get used to the idea that there are lots of ways these days to micro-target campaigns. With a lot on digital you aren’t going to see the same stuff others do.

    I of course can’t speak to TV as I cut the cord long ago. But I was running into newsom stuff all over the intertubes. It started with “lower tier” Dem politicians.  It eventually ramped up to the last week with Obama ads.

    I wonder if this scares political strategists. Maybe they use social media more.

    I don’t watch regular TV anymore, but do listen to the radio. But a lot of people who cut the cord and use streaming services pay a premium to avoid advertising. It is tougher to get political ads in front of people.

    One of the candidates left a message on my phone answering machine. I still keep a land line.

    But although I followed some news stories and listened to candidate interviews, I never saw or heard a single ad for the recall campaign.

  191. 191.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    Pretty much the same here, other than the constant emails asking for money. Newsom was sending me 2 a day and others doing similar. I have been getting 20-40 political emails a day. I have no idea how they got my email address but I must be worth something to someone…..

  195. 195.

    Ruckus

    I just checked my mail and have an “OH MY FUCKING GOD” email about the CA recall election and how Gov Newsom is on the verge of losing badly. The email arrive at 11:10 pm, last night and requests a signature to be one of the 15,000 people showing support and for the Gov, being as this is the only way to save his seat.

    WTF?

    It’s from the National Democratic Training Committee. I suspect this is not a democratic effort at all and someone looking to collect signatures to use in some BS fashion. I may be out in front of my skis on this but it looks like so much BS.

  197. 197.

    Dan B

    @Mary G: This terrible showing must be a shock.  She’s been able to be noticed all her life and adored for a time but this is likely to make her seem like a has been.  If the media circus reacts this way it’ll be tough but since she’s a fighter it could turn into a desperate and/or dangerous struggle for attention.  There are few good ways to go from here except to keep a low profile.  Maybe some reporters will be curious about the silence.  And it could be Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard 2.0.

  199. 199.

    Dan B

    @Sister Golden Bear: Or is it the lamentations of their Karens and their male Karens?  Howling Bubbas?

    As long as it’s lamentations, rending of garments, and tearing at flesh.  Followed by a long and welcome silence shut trap.

  201. 201.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    When it comes to the media, it’s always sunny in Philadelphia the GOP

    about 15 minutes before the polls closed CNN had a republican on to say if Newsom didn’t win by 20 points it would be a disaster. He won by 30 points so the media moved the goal posts to say he was damaged by having the recall in the first place. So damaged that he won by the largest margin since Earl Warren ran unopposed in 1946.

  204. 204.

    Ruckus

    A bit ago I finished watching a Netflix film called Rising Phoenix and it is very, very good.

    It is about the Paralympic Games and some of the athletes and it is amazing. Well done and one of the producers is one of the athletes, Tatyana McFadden. Adopted by an American couple at 6 yrs old, she was born in Russia and her mother was poor and could not support her so she lived in an orphanage for those 6 yrs. She’s very, very good but she’s not even the best story of the athletes shown. That in my mind is Bebe Vio, an Italian woman with a story that is almost unbelievable. Amazing show, very, very highly recommended. So good I had to mention it here.

  205. 205.

    Patricia Kayden

    Can't believe voters didn't totally embrace the guy who said slave OWNERS should get reparations for losing their property after the Civil War and that we should get rid of the Americans With Disabilities Act. (Note; Given the state of this country, only mostly sarcasm)— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) September 15, 2021

  208. 208.

    Ghost of Joe Liebling*s Dog

    @RaflW: As with the Cillizza debacle, CNN’s loss is some other organization’s gain.  They desperately need to deal with their ongoing problems attracting and retaining competent newsies.

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