As our friends at Daily Kos Elections remind us this afternoon, they’re still counting votes (absentee and provisional ballots) here in California, and there are four statewide or congressional contests still hanging fire.
One is the State Controller’s race, where Democrats were in danger of getting shut out of the general election (Democrat John Perez now has a tiny lead for the second spot). There’s a similar situation in CA-31 (San Bernadino), where Democrat Pete Aguilar is a few hundred votes ahead of Republican Lesli Gooch in the hunt for the second general election position. In CA-15 it’s Republicans who are in danger of being shut out of the general. And in CA-24 two Republicans remain in a battle for the second spot.
BTW, Jonathan Bernstein has a dyspeptic column today on how the whole Top Two experiment is working out in California. I’d add to his complaints the fact that the new system has not, so far, done anything to boost turnout–one of its alleged advantages.
