Richard Pombo loses! Democracy and the environment win!

Where do I start? The jerk in me wants to begin by saying that Dick Pombo eats horseshit for breakfast and washes it down with cow piss (he's a rancher, you know). But the humble gentleman I am says that I should just state the facts.

So, with the above paragraph, I have effectively killed two birds with one stone, not unlike Pombo himself, who wanted to kill all living things other than Republicans, including birds, deer, spotted owls, and your dog.

I guess the jerk in me won out. Sorry.

Here's some interesting facts, now that I got the insults off my chest.

Pombo and his Repugnican cohorts in Congress re-jigged the districts that they represented, presumably to make it easier to win reelection (that didn't work, at least for Pombo). The results are rather illuminating. CA-11 is a meandering district that has some really strange boundaries. I guess Pombo thought that re-drawing his district to capture more Republicans was sound political science. The district includes portions of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, and Santa Clara Counties. Pombo lost resoundingly in all but one, San Joaquin, where he lives and where he and his family own a lot of agricultural land. He won San Joaquin by 2 points, 51-49.

CA-11 is 43 percent Republican, 37 percent Democrat. 20 percent, presumably, could go either way, I suppose. If people voted with their party, which they generally do, that leaves 20 percent left to decide. If McNerney ends up winning 53 to 47, as is the score right now, that means that 80 percent of those not identifying themselves as either Republican or Democrat voted for McNerney. That, to me, is astounding. I would expect a figure greater than 50 percent, but not 80!

Although I live in Alameda County, I could not vote for anybody in CA-11. Ellen Tauscher is my US Representative. She won by a landslide.

It just goes to show how badly Pombo lost, considering that not only President Bush came out to rally and fund raise for him but also, Mr Bush's wife came out just a few days ago to rally the troops. She failed. Bush failed (what's new?).

I really hope I'm not counting my chickens before the eggs hatch. McNerney is only projected to win. He hasn't won. Pombo hasn't conceded. Nobody's been sworn in.

I guess if Pombo turns out the winner, I can eat crow. Pombo wants to kill them, too.