In sharp contrast to the eyelash race for the White House, hometown voters spoke loudly and decisively on face-to-face contests and on the 17 statewide ballot measures.
Californians were especially clear about finally legalizing marijuana after two failed attempts. Prop. 64, making pot readily available for recreational and medicinal purposes, passed comfortably, 58 percent to 42 percent.
For Culver City and the Crenshaw District, two of their favorite Democratic politicians, young state Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley Thomas and U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, predictably walked to perspiration-free wins.
In the tradition of his father, County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Mr. Ridley-Thomas the impressive twin son, walloped Republican Glen Ratcliff, 81-19.
Ms. Bass, who has her seat for life if she wishes, skunked fellow Democrat Chris Blake Wiggins, 82-18.
Other notable outcomes:
- Much maligned Measure M, greatly boosting funding for the MTA, won without a worry, 70-30.
- Los Angeles Measure HHH, ostensibly providing housing for the unhoused, easily prevailed, 76-24.
- Los Angeles Measure JJJ, which says certain areas of residential developments should be set aside as affordable housing passed 64-36.
- Fourteen of the record 17 statewide measures succeeded. The only losers were 53 (requiring voter approval before revenue bonds are issued), 65 (an amorphous reference to plastic bag revenue) and 66 (related to the death penalty process). One guess is they went down because they were presented too cloudily.
- Former Carson Mayor Jim Dear’s political career may have ended when he lost a comeback attempt to his dreaded rival, the incumbent Albert Robles, 55-45.
- Term-limited County Supervisor Mike Antonovich decisively lost his first and last (?) run for the state Senate to Anthony Portantino, 59-41.
- You may all Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris “senator,” after she expectedly whacked Loretta Sanchez of Orange County in the race for retiring U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s seat.
- Westside/South Bay U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu spanked Kenneth Wright, 66-34.
- Longtime politico Janice Hahn won one of two seats on the County Board of Supervisors, 56-44 over Steve Napolitano.
- Kathryn Barger nailed the other seat, and Darrell Park in the process, 59-41.
- State Assemblyman Richard Bloom of Santa Monica returns to Sacramento with a 75-25 win over Matthew Craffey.
- Steve Bradford won a seat in Congress over Warren Furutani, 54-46.
- Congressional hopeful Isadore Hall narrowly lost to Nanette Diaz Barragan, 51-49.
So the pollsters got it wrong! Maybe some of them let their political leanings influence the writing of the questions they asked. In the future, when polls come out about an issue or candidate, it should be mandatory for them to show the exact wording of the questions they asked the participants. That way the public could see if the question(s) were written to invoke a certain answer and thereby come up with a desired result.