Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

The precinct-by-precinct numbers that I pointed to earlier today are interesting to analyze. They show, for example, that our Congressman Tom McClintock is losing in most Truckee precincts. He lost in Truckee two years ago, too.

Truckee is the same place where McClintock supporters asked for video surveillance of uncounted ballots, as this blog first reported.

Prop. 23, which McClintock strongly supported, also is losing by some very wide margins in the Truckee precincts

Exit question: Is Truckee where our county-wide voting demographics are headed? It tends to be a younger, more “middle of the road” group than some of the staunch right neighborhoods down here.

Truckee also has dominance on the top ten taxpayers in our county, as I have reported previously. More details are here. The Truckee & Tahoe Contractors Association (CATT) also takes a more middle of the road, nonpartisan approach to politics — endorsing clerk-recorder candidate Greg Diaz, for example.

Is this a demographic we should be attracting to our western county as well to help diversify our economy?

A map of the Truckee precincts is here.

CP “44″
BENJAMIN “BEN” EMERY 49 15.3%
TOM MCCLINTOCK 111 34.6%
CLINT CURTIS 161 50.2%

CP “45″
BENJAMIN “BEN” EMERY 26 7.6%
TOM MCCLINTOCK 156 45.5%
CLINT CURTIS 161 46.9%

CP “46″
BENJAMIN “BEN” EMERY 41 6.4%
TOM MCCLINTOCK 302 46.9%
CLINT CURTIS 301 46.7%

CP “47″
BENJAMIN “BEN” EMERY 44 9.4%
TOM MCCLINTOCK 166 35.6%
CLINT CURTIS 256 54.9%

CP “48″
BENJAMIN “BEN” EMERY 56 9.8%
TOM MCCLINTOCK 261 45.5%
CLINT CURTIS 256 44.7%

CP “49″
BENJAMIN “BEN” EMERY 18 7.2%
TOM MCCLINTOCK 107 43.0%
CLINT CURTIS 124 49.8%

CP “50″
BENJAMIN “BEN” EMERY 31 7.2%
TOM MCCLINTOCK 177 41.0%
CLINT CURTIS 224 51.9

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An estimated 16,600 ballots still are left uncounted in our county, the Elections Office said on Thursday.

The number is significant enough that it could conceivably change the results of some races. The Elections Office wouldn’t comment.

The Office has 28 days to complete the official count.

The breakdown includes 14,568 vote-by-mail ballots that were dropped at polling places or the Elections office on the day of the election.

It also includes 1,256 provisional ballots and 786 damaged ballots.

28 days. nov 30

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Hundreds of thousands of people packed the Streets of San Francisco for the Giants’ World Series victory parade.

Cars leading the parade ranged from Willie Ways and Willie McCovey to Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Former Journey rock star Steve Perry passed by in a float with the song “Don’t Stop Believin’” — the Giant’s unofficial hit — blaring.

The coup de grace? “We’ll do it again baby!” said Aubrey Huff as he pulled off his red “rally thong” from under his pants in front of a Giant-sized crowd at City Hall.

Here’s a video of Brian Wilson, AKA “The Beard” on the parade route.

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Here’s an index of stories about the election from this blog. (Click on the headline to be directed to the story):
•Did Meagher’s ties to CABPRO cost him the election?
•Scoop: How did your neighborhood vote in Tuesday’s elections?
•Prop. 23, 19 losing, Vernon winning, Miller and Fouyer winning in our county
•Senate nail-biters in Colo., Wash. and Alaska as West turns back tea party tide
•Prop. 23 thumped — here and statewide — but Prop. 26 win
•Democrats prevail in California despite losing the House
•Props 19, 23 lose; Props 22, 25, 26 win
•McClintock, Logue win, as expected
•Voters reject Prop. 19
•Reid beats Angle as tea party flops in West
•GOP wins the House
•GOP monitoring irks some officials

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Though not all the ballots are counted, Tina Vernon is handily beating Dai Meagher for the county Treasurer’s race.

Meagher’s endorsement by CABPRO and the hard right upset some Democrats, including Central Committee members who had endorsed him. He signed a “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” to oppose higher taxes, supported by conservative taxpayer advocate Grover Norquist.

CABPRO and its “followers” (including our vocal hard-right blogging contingent) also endorsed Prop. 23, which also lost handily in our county.

I don’t know Dai well, but he asked my informal advice a long time ago, as I’ve written before. I suggested that he embrace both sides as a “nonpartisan” but be weary about embracing the local hard right too much. My ongoing opinion is that their influence is waning, mainly because of such high pitched “my way or the highway” rhetoric.

Did CABPRO’s endorsement of Meagher cost him the election? After all, most of us are in the middle — or centrists.

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In Nevada County, how did your neighborhood vote in Tuesday’s elections?

The precinct-by-precinct results are here. I did a little legwork and provided a “cheat sheet” of precincts below, so you can compare.

For example, I voted in precinct “CP 10″ at the Nevada City Veterans Hall (see below). Then I clicked here to find the results for “CP 10″ as well as the others. You can do the same thing for your precinct.

Bottom line: You’ll see the political polarization of our county, played out by geographic region.

For example, Clint Curtis actually beat Tom McClintock in the “left-leaning” precinct where I voted — though Clint lost handily districtwide. By contrast, the “right-leaning” precincts in Lake Wildwood and Lake of the Pines, for example, wound up supporting McClintock by a higher percentage than the county as a whole.

Generally speaking, the results are more right leaning to the west, toward Auburn; and it is more left leaning to to the east, toward Truckee. In Truckee’s “CP47″ precinct, for example, Curtis beat McClintock handily.

As I reported here first, McClintock’s camp irked some Truckee officials by questioning the ballot handling.

This precinct-by-precinct analysis is a classic example of how online can trump print in providing timely news and information at the “hyper-local” level. The local media is not providing this kind of data “dive” — but should be.

PRECINCT CHEAT SHEET:

CP01
PEARDALE-CHICAGO PARK FIREHOUSE
CP02
NEVADA CO HORSEMENS CLUB
CP03
NEVADA CO SUPT OF SCHOOLS
CP04
MADELYN HELLING LIBRARY COMM ROOM BD A
CP05
MADELYN HELLING LIBRARY COMM ROOM BD B
CP06
SEAMANS LODGE PIONEER PARK BD A
CP07
NEVCO CONS FIREHOUSE 80
CP08
PEARDALE CHICAGO PARK FIREHOUSE 57
CP09
NEVADA CITY VETERANS BLDG BD A
CP10
NEVADA CITY VETERANS BLDG BD B
CP11
HIGGINS LIONS COMMUNITY CTR
CP12
LOP YACHT LOUNGE
CP13
PLEASANT RIDGE ELEM SCHOOL
CP14
HIGGINS CORNER FIREHOUSE
CP15
ALTA SIERRA ELEM SCHOOL – MP ROOM BD A
CP16
ALTA SIERRA C/C BD A
CP17
ALTA SIERRA C/C BD B
CP18
ALTA SIERRA C/C BD C
CP19
SIERRA PINES METHODIST CHURCH
CP20
ALTA SIERRA ELEM SCHOOL – MP ROOM BD B
CP21
FOREST SPRINGS MOBILE HOME PARK
CP22
GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH
CP23
GRASS VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT
CP24
GRASS VALLEY VETERANS BLDG BD A
CP25
GRASS VALLEY VETERANS BLDG BD B
CP26
GRASS VALLEY VETERANS BLDG BD C
CP27
UNITY IN THE GOLD COUNTRY
CP28
CALVARY BIBLE CHURCH BD A
CP29
CALVARY BIBLE CHURCH BD B
CP30
LOVE BUILDING, CONDON PARK
CP31
LAKE WILDWOOD COMM CTR OAK RM BD A
CP32
LAKE WILDWOOD COMM CTR OAK RM BD B
CP33
NEVCO CONS FIREHOUSE 92
CP34
HIGGINS FIREHOUSE 23
CP35
PENN VALLEY FIREHOUSE 43 BD A
CP36
WILLIAMS RANCH ELEM SCHOOL
CP37
ROUGH & READY FIREHOUSE
CP38
PENN VALLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH BD A
CP39
KENTUCKY FLAT COMMUNITY CENTER
CP40
PENN VALLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH BD B
CP41
NORTH SAN JUAN SENIOR CITIZENS CTR
CP42
NORTH COLUMBIA SCHOOL HOUSE
CP43
PENN VALLEY FIREHOUSE 43 BD B
CP44
EMIGRANT TRAIL MUSEUM
CP45
NORTHWOODS CLUBHOUSE BD A
CP46
NORTHWOODS CLUBHOUSE BD B
CP47
TRUCKEE DONNER PUD BD A
CP48
TRUCKEE DONNER PUD BD B
CP49
GLENSHIRE ELEM SCHOOL
CP50
GLENSHIRE SWIM & TENNIS CLUB
CP51
NEVCO CONS FIREHOUSE 84
CP52
FOOTHILL CHURCH
CP53
BANNER GRANGE #627
CP54
SEAMANS LODGE PIONEER PARK BD B
CP55
LAKE WILDWOOD COMM CT

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In our county, Props. 23 and 19 are losing, Tina Vernon is winning for county Treasurer, and Dan Miller and Jason Fouyer are winning in Grass Valley.

The figures once again confirm that Tom McClintock and Dan Logue are less popular in our county than the wider districts.

Though all of the county’s precincts are reporting in the latest figures, a large number of ballots —estimated at many thousands — remain to be counted. That’s because voters waited until the last day to drop off their vote-by-mail ballots. It is an ongoing issue that slows down the official count.

An official estimate of the remaining ballots will be released on Wednesday afternoon.

Placer County results — which mirrored the ones in our county — are here. Prop. 23, for example, lost in neighboring Placer as well. It lost in Plumas County too.

In other closely watched races in our region, Republican Rep. Dan Lungren held off Democrat Ami Bera. It will be his ninth term in the U.S. House.

GOP Assemblyman Ted Gaines and Democrat Ken Cooley will square off in a run-off election to fill the 1st Senate District vacancy held by late GOP Sen. Dave Cox. Gaines beat Assemblyman Roger Niello.

Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2010/11/gaines-cooley-headed-to-run-of.html#ixzz14E2GV93X

Highlights for Nevada County, including local races, are below. The full results are here.

Registration and Turnout
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Reg/Turnout Percentage
Total Registered Voters 61,481
Precinct Registration 61,481
Precinct Ballots Cast 11,481 18.7%
Early Ballots Cast 194 0.3%
Absentee Ballots Cast 18,236 29.7%
Total Ballots Cast 29,911 48.7%

PROPOSITION 23
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
YES 13,024 46.8%
NO 14,807 53.2%

PROPOSITION 19
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
YES 12,244 43.3%
NO 16,050 56.7%

Treasurer/Tax Collector.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
TINA M. VERNON 12,335 51.6%
DAI MEAGHER 11,555 48.4%

House of Representatives of the United States District 4.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
TOM MCCLINTOCK (REP) 14,463 52.3%
CLINT CURTIS (DEM) 10,058 36.4%
BENJAMIN “BEN” EMERY (GRN) 3,148 11.4%

Assembly District 3.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
DAN LOGUE (REP) 13,894 52.0%
MICHAEL “MICKEY” HARRINGTON (DEM) 10,434 39.1%
GARY BRYANT (LIB) 2,383 8.9%

Council Member, City of Grass Valley.
Number To Vote For: 2
Completed Precincts: 8 of 8
Vote Count Percentage
DAN MILLER 1,447 37.3%
JASON E. FOUYER 1,147 29.5%
PATRICIA TUREAUD 964 24.8%
EDWARD W. YARBOROUGH 324 8.3%

Council Member, Town of Truckee.
Number To Vote For: 3
Completed Precincts: 9 of 9
Vote Count Percentage
RICHARD ANDERSON 1,680 28.4%
MARK BROWN 1,647 27.8%
CAROLYN WALLACE DEE 1,480 25.0%
CARL THOMAS JEFFRIES 1,112 18.8%

Trustee Area One District Board Member, Sierra Joint Community College.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
HOWARD RUDD 10,983 55.3%
KELLI GNILE 8,886 44.7%

Trustee Area Five District Board Member, Sierra Joint Community College.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
CARI DAWSON BARTLEY 10,845 55.5%
THOMAS GARDNER 5,298 27.1%
GLORIA E. PLASENCIA 3,382 17.3%

District Board Member, Grass Valley School.
Number To Vote For: 3
Completed Precincts: 22 of 22
Vote Count Percentage
JEANNE MICHAEL 2,399 24.3%
BONNIE TAYLOR 2,081 21.1%
PAULA ROEDIGER 2,035 20.6%
ROB W AVERY 1,892 19.2%
JERALD W. LEITHERER 1,463 14.8%

Governor.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
MEG WHITMAN (REP) 14,363 50.8%
JERRY BROWN (DEM) 12,610 44.6%
DALE F. OGDEN (LIB) 470 1.7%
LAURA WELLS (GRN) 379 1.3%
CHELENE NIGHTINGALE (AI) 345 1.2%
CARLOS ALVAREZ (PF) 85 0.3%

Lieutenant Governor.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
ABEL MALDONADO (REP) 13,563 49.1%
GAVIN NEWSOM (DEM) 11,386 41.2%
PAMELA J. BROWN (LIB) 1,684 6.1%
JAMES “JIMI” CASTILLO (GRN) 481 1.7%
JIM KING (AI) 272 1.0%
C.T. WEBER (PF) 218 0.8%

Secretary of State.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
DAMON DUNN (REP) 13,007 47.5%
DEBRA BOWEN (DEM) 12,069 44.0%
ANN MENASCHE (GRN) 948 3.5%
CHRISTINA TOBIN (LIB) 816 3.0%
MERTON D. SHORT (AI) 360 1.3%
MARYLOU CABRAL (PF) 207 0.8%

Controller.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN CHIANG (DEM) 13,910 50.6%
TONY STRICKLAND (REP) 11,264 41.0%
ANDREW “ANDY” FAVOR (LIB) 1,062 3.9%
ROSS D. FRANKEL (GRN) 702 2.6%
LAWRENCE G. BELIZ (AI) 308 1.1%
KAREN MARTINEZ (PF) 233 0.8%

Treasurer.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
MIMI WALTERS (REP) 12,807 47.0%
BILL LOCKYER (DEM) 12,263 45.0%
CHARLES “KIT” CRITTENDEN (GRN) 1,018 3.7%
EDWARD M. TEYSSIER (LIB) 724 2.7%
DEBRA L. REIGER (PF) 215 0.8%
ROBERT LAUTEN (AI) 205 0.8%

Attorney General.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
STEVE COOLEY (REP) 14,317 52.5%
KAMALA D. HARRIS (DEM) 10,256 37.6%
PETER ALLEN (GRN) 1,028 3.8%
TIMOTHY J. HANNAN (LIB) 1,003 3.7%
ROBERT J. EVANS (PF) 337 1.2%
DIANE BEALL TEMPLIN (AI) 320 1.2%

Insurance Commissioner.
Completed Precincts: 87 of 87
Vote Count Percentage
MIKE VILLINES (REP) 12,685 47.3%
DAVE JONES (DEM) 10,713 39.9%
RICHARD S. BRONSTEIN (LIB) 1,400 5.2%
WILLIAM BALDERSTON (GRN) 1,002 3.7%
DINA JOSEPHINE PADILLA (PF) 622 2.3%
CLAY PEDERSEN (AI) 407 1.5%

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“While the Democrats have held their Senate majority, we still don’t know just how big it will be,” thanks to the West pushing back the tide of tea party politicians, as NPR is reporting.

The article is here. It notes:

•In Colorado, incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet and Republican challenger Ken Buck are in a statistical dead heat with 47 percent of the vote.

•In Alaska, incumbent Lisa Murkowski may win a seat in the Senate by write-in ballot — an unusual feat. I discussed this previously here.

•In Washington State, incumbent Democrat Patty Murray is leading Republican challenger Dino Rossi by 14,000 votes, but statistically, it’s a 50-50 tie, according to NPR.

A New York Times article, “How the tea party failed to topple Reid and the Democratic majority” is here. Harry Reid beat Sharron Angle, as I reported previously.

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Prop. 23 — the proposal to suspend our state’s landmark greenhouse gas reduction law — was a big loser in Tuesday’s election.

Statewide, only 38.6 percent of voters (2.7 million) voted for it, and 61.4 percent (4.2 million) voted against it.

In our county — where its biggest supporters, Tom McClintock and Dan Logue, are based — it also lost. About 46.8 percent (13,024) voted yes, and about 53.2 percent (14,807) voted no.

Besides Logue and McClintock, many of our county supervisors — including Ed Scofield, Ted Owens and outgoing board member John Spencer — said they supported Prop. 23. Many prominent local business leaders also supported the initiative.

Prop. 23 was the most high-profile environmental measure on the ballot anywhere in the nation.

“I think it’s extremely significant that in recessionary times Californians once again prove you can have both a strong economy and a clean environment,” Steven Maviglio, spokesman for the campaign against Prop. 23, told The Chronicle. He said the “coalition we put together – Republicans, Democrats, new economy, old economy – was effective in overcoming the invasion of two Texas oil companies.”

The campaign to pass the measure was funded primarily by oil companies Valero and Tesoro, which are headquartered in Texas.

One surprise, however, was the passage of Prop. 26, requiring a 2/3 legislative vote to raise fees.

“Prop 26 would make it much harder – perhaps impossible, for all intents and purposes – for California’s state and local governments to pass new fees to pay for the costs associated with dirty and harmful businesses,” wrote Rebecca Tarbotton, executive director of Rainforest Action Network.

Chevron has spent $4 million supporting Prop. 26.

“Under the infamous Sinclair Paint decision, virtually any tax may be increased by majority vote as long as it is called a ‘fee,’ gutting the 2/3 vote requirement in the state constitution to raise taxes,” wrote McClintock, who supported Prop. 26. “Prop. 26 rescinds Sinclair Paint, restores the Constitution, and calls a tax a tax.

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The winners of statewide contests are here. Highlights are below:

GOVERNOR
Jerry Brown (Dem) 3,859,570 53.9%
Meg Whitman (Rep) 2,948,040 41.2%

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Gavin Newsom (Dem) 3,496,607 50.2%
Abel Maldonado (Rep) 2,739,394 39.4%

SECRETARY OF STATE
Debra Bowen (Dem) 3,646,217 53.3%
Damon Dunn (Rep) 2,621,195 38.3%

CONTROLLER
*John Chiang (Dem) 3,798,261 55.2%
Tony Strickland (Rep) 2,494,707 36.3%

TREASURER
*Bill Lockyer (Dem) 3,881,105 56.6%
Mimi Walters (Rep) 2,486,395 36.3%

ATTORNEY GENERAL
Kamala D. Harris (Dem) 3,171,001 46.2%
Steve Cooley (Rep) 3,127,839 45.5%

INSURANCE COMMISSIONER
Dave Jones (Dem) 3,406,663 50.7%
Mike Villines (Rep) 2,534,423 37.7%

SUPERVISOR OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
Larry Aceves 2,508,575 45.3%
Tom Torlakson 3,020,848 54.7%

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