Today, Dec 3, just a day short of a month after the vote, Charlie Brown, the Democratic candidate for the 4 th Congressional district in northern CA, has conceded the 2008 election to Republican carpetbagger Tom McClintock from Thousand Oaks (his legal residence). McClintock will be taking over the seat currently held by the scandal- encrusted John Doolittle, who is "retiring" because of his involvement in the Abramoff scandal investigation.
from the email notice:
"We've come up less than one half of one percent --- just under 1800 votes --- short of victory. So a short time ago, I called Senator Tom McClintock to congratualate him on a hard fought victory, and to wish him well in Congress. "
McClintock had a narrow lead of a few hundred votes in the vote total on the morning of November 5th, but there were so many outstanding vote by mail (absentee) and provisional ballots left to counted, the race could not be called for either candidate, leading to a long ballot tallying observed by legal teams for both campaigns. The close initial margin triggered an automatic partial hand recount of 10% of the ballots by the CA Secretary of State.
Brown carried Sierra, Plumas, and Nevada Counties, all counties north of Auburn.
McClintock carried Butte, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Placer, and the part of Sacramento county that is in the district (14,000 + votes). The more heavily suburbanized with retirees Placer, and the fast growing El Dorado vote totals were close, Lassen and Modoc, the 2 northern most counties the farthest from civilization, went strongly for McClintock.
The districtwide vote totals may be seen here: http://vote.sos.ca.gov/...
I expect these numbers to change a bit as the last update is still showing November 26 2008, and has
Charlie Brown = 182,967
Tom McClintock = 184,543
There will be all sorts of autopsies on this one, but all I can say is, the Democratic candidate, staff, and volunteers are the finest bunch of people one could ever hope to work with. The Democratic presence in the district is now a real and strong thing.
And the other guy, a dedicated obstructionist, doesn't have a mandate. And declared himself the winner 3 times before the vote counting was completed.
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Oct 2, 2008. Charlie Brown (standing) at the microphone during the Butte County League of Women Voters candidate forum in Oroville. McClintock seated.