Election Day

Had a good time yesterday, on my victory lap around the state. I started in Sacramento, went to the "Purple Cow" in San Francisco, travelled to San Jose in the evening for the party at AP Stumps, and then, very late, back to Sacramento.

I voted at the River Life Covenant Church in Sacramento (19th and Broadway) about 10 a.m., and then spent about half an hour importuning voters to please, please vote for me. The voters seemed to be an unusually cranky lot - they wondered whether I was breaking the law just by being there (it's OK as long as I stay more than 100 feet from the door). Then I went to work and answered a few E-Mails, before driving off to San Francisco.

Fortunately the KMTP Channel 32 studio was easy to find in San Francisco. When I arrived, hand-held cameras in the lobby were focused on Candidate Georgy Russell: in a few minutes Candidate Christopher Sproul arrived with his surfboard. After various effusive greetings, we went upstairs to the third floor, to a big room where about ten break dancers did the MOST AMAZING moves on a checkered plastic surface (e.g. spinning upside down on the crown of one's head). Just the most wonderfully-skilled people!

As we candidates sat side-by-side on an avocado green vinyl couch, hosts Jay and SheShe asked how our experiences had changed us both personally and politically. I stated how I had gained a renewed appreciation for the virtues of acting out and making a loud noise. After two takes of the interview, the break dancers showed us a few moves, which we got imperfectly. Georgy and I then made a feeble effort to teach the break dancers ballet steps (of course, many, if not all, of the break dancers already have classical training, but we were hamming it up for the camera). Georgy couldn't easily turn barefoot on the checkered plastic surface, so mostly it was an unprofitable wrestle of arms and legs, but we did squeeze out a reasonable fish. Christopher got better pictures on his surf board - Georgy looked especially cute on the surf board. Then after a few pictures with SheShe and Break Dancer Rosa, it was back downstairs to catch a portion of my interview on "Purple Cow" (all the interviews were running on a continuous loop, and mine happened to come up when I was there). Laughed my head off! Then, after getting an autographed copy of Georgy's famous thong, it was off to San Jose.


Fabulous Dancing!



Candidates Georgy Russell and Chris Sproul; Hosts SheShe, and Jay - the "Purple Cow" interview



Break Dancer Rosa and SheShe


In the Duncan Science Building at the campus of San Jose State University, after handing out my card to a group of women students in lab coats standing in the hall holding pieces of filter paper in the hall (for what, I don't know), I located my friend Jerry, who teaches meteorology there, and we got some pizza. After much amiable conversation, it was off to find the downtown restaurant AP Stumps, for Jon Zellhoefer's party.

Eight candidates were there on Election Night (Zellhoefer, Sproul, Miller, Dole, Valdez, Lane, Foss, and Cullenbine), plus the ever-helpful Cheryl Dietz, Jon Zellhoefer's campaign manager, who did more than anyone to make the Candidates' Forum a living entity, plus her family. Bay Area channels 2, 5, and 7 were also there, and some footage was taken by all three networks of me meandering around behind the various correspondents. It soon became clear that we were going make less of an impression on the vote totals than I expected, but we still had some fun (one of the photographers took a great picture of Diana Foss and I whooping it up, because Channel 2 reported she had 275 votes and I had 248 votes).

I drank a margarita and accidentally dropped the glass on the floor. I took some more pictures, and made my way, quite late, back to Sacramento.


Candidate Bob Cullenbine