“At least it was not Campbell.”
Do NOT get depressed. Avoiding Campbell was HUGE.
Also it looks like Fitzgerald for Ins. Commissioner, by a squeak. Cheer up!
w this at a SacBee blog just now:
Some of the state’s biggest races were called early last night, with Meg Whitman, securing the GOP gubernatorial nomination about 30 minutes after polls closed and Carly Fiorina following the with GOP Senate nod soon after.
But there were, as always, lots of close calls and several surprises as the returns trickled in from across the state late into the night. And, with absentee ballots turned in on election day still to be counted, some races are still in flux.
One candidate who likely didn’t sleep soundly?
GOP Insurance Commissioner hopeful Mike Villines.
The Clovis Assemblyman was considered a safe bet for the Republican nod for insurance commissioner, but that race is shaping up to be one of the night’s biggest upsets.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, 53-year-old enforcement attorney Brian Fitgzerald leads Villines by about 11,200 votes.
The close margin could mean Republican voters are still rankled by Villines’ vote on the 2009 budget package (you know, the one included new taxes, cost him his leadership post but won him a JFK Profiles in Courage Award), especially considering Fitzgerald, whom State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz profiled last week, spent less than $5,000 on his statewide campaign.