My otherwise unsinkable California pride sunk a little bit last night. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the next governor, yikes. I’ll have to take some comfort in the fact that most of my Bay Area compatriots voted the right way. (Go San Mateo County!)
I stayed up last night watching the news coverage as the poll returns were being reported. (I definitely had flashbacks to election day 2000, when I fell asleep in front of the TV and woke up in the wee hours to find we still didn’t have a new president.) Maybe it’s just me, but I hate that the news channels “project” the winner in elections. What is this, a contest to see which network can correctly guess the winner the earliest? Should I be thanking CNN—which I hardly watch anyway; I’ll get to why in a moment—for “projecting” the winner for me? As early as a few minutes after the polls closed, CNN already had a red checkmark next to “yes” on the recall, and “winner” next to Schwarzenegger’s name. Is that even a responsibility of the news, while the votes are still being counted and reported?
I mean, please, just show me the vote tally and number of precincts reporting, and I can make sense of it myself. Which is why I paid more attention to the state website than the TV coverage. And while I’m railing on twenty-four-hour news channels, let me say that most of it is just unwatchable. To fill all that airtime, they just stretch out what little information they have and then repeat it ad nauseum. Wolf Blitzer was talking with former governor (and now Oakland mayor) Jerry Brown, but cut away mid-interview to a reporter at Schwarzenegger headquarters whose only breaking news was that Jay Leno was scheduled to introduce him. Thanks, I really had to know that just then.
Anyway, for the sake of the people of California, I’ll wish Governor Schwarzenegger—I had to shudder there for a moment—some luck getting the state in order, since he’ll need it. I’ll stop here before I give myself a headache.
Yeah, my language was a bit more colourful but I was still very upset. I can’t believe this buffoon is the leader of my (our) state!
And word on the “projections.” I was at work and using the radio as my news source. I swear they were saying that Arnold was the winner when 11% of the precincts were reporting! What the hell is that?!
So I’ve been found out! Haha… how did you know I linked to your site? I’m glad I found it though, you’ve got very interesting insights! Drop by my Xanga some time! :-)
I can’t remember who was governor when I lived in SF. Schwarzenegger probably won’t be nearly as bad as the other actor who ran the state.