What a night: the Dems took back the
House (and maybe the Senate), Janet Wolf won the 2nd District seat,
Bill Brown unseated Sheriff Jim Anderson, Measure D failed, and
many other surprises. This web editor is getting tired, so this
will be the final post of the evening. For results and analysis,
see the prior posts. And for a full version of the night’s events,
be sure to check out The Independent‘s print edition when
it hits the streets on Thursday. It’ll be jam-packed with photos,
more poignant analysis, and comments from Election Day 2006’s
winners and losers

But before we go, let’s have this final
report from SOhO, where Ethan Stewart has been attending what’s
probably best called “the Victory Party.” Here’s what Ethan had to
say:

“I was down at the Endless Summer when
Dr. Dan Secord ceded the 2nd District County Supervisor race to
Janet Wolf. He said it was an uphill battle and that he was too
qualified not to run. He thanked his family and friends, but didn’t
say anything specific about Janet. He ended the entire speech by
saying, ‘I think we all need a beer.’ He then walked up to the bar
and ordered the last free beer of the night. There was still food
left at the time, including tasty chicken sticks and the Endless
Summer’s ubiquitous popcorn.

“Then I moved up to SOhO, where Janet Wolf just gave her ‘I Won’
speech, but she was classically cautious and reserved even though
Dan Secord had already ceded. There is no food left here. At the
exact same moment that Janet was giving her speech, the big screen
showed that the Democrats took the Missouri Senate race. It was
double down cheers as Janet stood onstage with Lois Capps and Pedro
Nava and all the crew. There is still, at 10:30 p.m., about 200
people here, and it’s a very young crowd, lots of Isla Vista
people. Even Lois Capps specifically thanked the IV vote. There’s a
big board that’s tracking all the Congressional races, so everyone
is feeling it.

“As for Measure D, there’s talk about people being bummed, but
most seem to have accepted before today that there wasn’t enough
votes to get the two-thirds majority to win.

“In news unrelated to this party, I called Bob Noel, who looks
like he’s taking home first prize in the school board race. He told
me that he hadn’t been paying attention all night. He went out to
dinner with his family and then he was watching a movie. I told him
he won, and he started laughing and said, ‘I’ll be! I guess I
should be celebrating!'”

And this just in from Martha Sadler, who
was driving away from the party at Zodos for new Goleta City
Councilmembers Michael Bennett and Eric Onnen: “There are still an
estimated 500 absentee ballots still out from people who turned
them in today, and PUEBLO walked precincts for Roger Aceves and
Margaret Connell this weekend. Which is to say that Aceves could
still bump Cynthia Brock from third place and win a spot on the
Goleta City Council.

“In his victory speech, Michael Bennett said the first thing he
was going to do was to remove ‘Cynthia Brock’s butterfly’ from the
city seal. Apparently, Bennett, who was elected Goleta’s first
mayor when cityhood did not pass, is dismayed that the many
contributions from the community to design the seal were rejected
in favor of a graphic artist. Onnen greeted Bennett as the ‘first
mayor of Goleta.’ As well, Bennett and Onnen said that they were
going to redo the general plan. Given that the first speaker after
the two new councilmembers was the head of the Goleta Valley
Chamber of Commerce, it’s a good bet that there will be growth in
Goleta’s future.”

Alright Indy readers, that’s all for tonight. Tune in
tomorrow to Independent.com for more fun stuff, like our CD of the
day, a restaurant review, and other web updates. Thanks for reading
along with us tonight, and we hope we’ve helped keep you better
informed. Please let us know how we can be more help for next
election. Goodbye!

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