Get real on gun laws

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Don Miller

The following is the Dec. 19, 2012, Editorial for the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

Controlling guns of mass destruction is much the topic — nationally and in this space — after the horrifying slaughter of 20 small children and six adults Friday in Newtown, Conn.

Much of the reaction to the school shooting has been the familiar handwringing and posturing over access to high-powered guns, along with a violence-obsessed culture and media, and the breakdown in families. Here’s three instances, however, where it’s not just rhetoric:

1. President Obama, who spoke movingly Sunday evening in Newtown, vowing “we can’t tolerate this any more,” is being faulted for doing nothing about gun control in his four years in office. Tuesday, however, the president indicated he supports Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s effort to reinstate a federal assault-weapons ban allowed to lapse in 2004.  While that’s hardly a bold stand, it’s a start. We also find encouraging that gun-rights supporters holding elected office have, post-Newtown, appeared more open to discussions on strengthened curbs. Of course, this resolve in the past has quickly faded in the face of NRA pressure, sure to come.

2. A reinstated assault weapons ban needs to also focus on the kind of high-capacity ammunition magazines now used in so many semiautomatic firearms. Obama reportedly supports a ban on these ammunition clips. While it’s unclear whether the Bushmaster .223 caliber semiautomatic rifle (pictured above) used by the killer in Newtown, and also in the July killings at the Aurora, Col. movie theater, would have been outlawed under the expired federal ban, the weapon’s high-capacity magazines would have been. Similar magazines were found in two handguns also found at the Newtown school, allegedly carried there by shooter Adam Lanza.

3. One of the common denominators marking many of the mass shooters is that they are young men with significant mental health issues. Clearly, we need to do a better job of improving access to mental health care to people most in need — and then following up. Sadly, mental health care has been decimated in rounds of government cost cutting over the past 30 years, which just happens to coincide with the rise in mass killings.

Federal gun laws also need to be both strengthened as they relate to the mentally ill. Current law mostly prohibits gun possession or acquisition by a person who has involuntarily been institutionalized; judged by a court to be a danger to others or themselves; found not guilty of a crime by reason of insanity or because they are too mentally ill to be tried; or declared unable to manage their own affairs.

It’s true many people recover from mental illnesses and should not bear the stigma for the remainder of their lives. But the  obvious loophole — exploited by many of the recent mass killers, who usually do their evil acts in so-called “gun-free zones” such as schools, shopping malls or movie theaters — is that many mentally troubled individuals haven’t been involuntarily committed or judged insane or mentally ill in a court proceeding.

Even worse, despite the 2007 federal law intended to require better reporting by individual states about mentally ill individuals barred from possessing firearms, the reality is compliance has been haphazard.

Whatever changes are coming to gun laws, prohibitions and background checks have to be considerably strengthened — including private sales of firearms — for individuals whose mental health issues make them dangerous to trust with deadly weapons.

Nor should potentially dangerous individuals be living in environments where weapons are accessible. Tragically, Adam Lanza found his arsenal of high-powered weapons at home. They were owned by his mother, who paid with her own life when her son began his murderous rampage.

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School shooting: Evil speaks and someone is listening

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Don Miller

A young boy is comforted outside Sandy Hook Elementary School after  shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Friday.  REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin

On Friday, I wrote a Sentinel Editorial about the growing insanity of a gun culture that has a nation so heavily armed that death-dealing weapons inevitably fall into criminal and unstable hands.

Of course, no one could  have known that yet another disturbed individual would use guns to wreak horror — this time killing 20 innocent young children at a school in Connecticut, along with adults, including his mother.

The tableau unfolded in a familiar, if funereal, fashion. Grieving and shocked families. A sorrowful president speaking from the White House. The media on full alert. Law enforcement searching, searching for some sort of clues that would explain the unexplainable.

And yes, we know that even if elected leaders set out to demilitarize America, it won’t be any sort of guarantee deranged people won’t have access of guns to perpetrate their evil schemes.

And clearly, we live in a culture that also has become desensitized to violence. The volatile mix of violent movies and digital “entertainment” can percolate in the minds of the seemingly growing population of young men harboring revenge fantasies or guarding insane plots.

Add in the relatively easy access to guns — purchased, stolen, borrowed, does it matter? — and we all watch as yet another unspeakable tragedy unfolds.

Hours after the tragedy unfolded and the explanations came forth, darkness descended Friday on the school and the scene.

God, protect our children.

Let there be light.

***

Last July, after the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater massacre by a deranged young man armed with an assault rife, I posted a blog that, reading it six months later, seems timely. Here it is:

By now, we’ve almost become numbed by the report of yet another mass murder.

Although the victims and the methods are often different, a couple of things remain the same. The awful senselessness of tragedy and lives, usually young, lost — and the characteristics of the perpetrators.

Young men. Some with deep seated, if irrational, grievances. Others with mental illness. But inevitably they are described as “loners,” and these days have some sort of relationship with technology, wherein many seem to be forlornly seeking an identity.

The Aurora, Colorado horror continues to play out with the grief expressed by families and friends at their unspeakable losses and with the seemingly crazed gunman being dissected by crime analysts, TV talking heads and bloggers (!).

Was James HOlmes, the whip smart but failed PhD candidate who came from a normal family and lived on a government stipend,  yet another example of our country’s feeble gun laws? Was it just too tempting the easy availability of murderous weapons capable of quickly wiping out an entire crowd, along with a small crate of ammunition? This is the most popular “cause” cited, especially by Santa Cruz County commenters and emailers to the Sentinel. Others blame it on politicians who have cut money from mental health programs.

Or was he influenced by the darkness of pop culture — the doom and gloom of “The Dark Knight Rises” Batman movie, or the Joker’s insidious, invidious evil from 2008?s Batman cinematic dark night?

Is it that America has increasingly lost a generation of young men, through unemployment and lack of purpose and accomplishment? Lacking the disciplines of work, family, church — even military service — the lure of virtual personhood for the most vulnerable becomes a snare they can’t work their way out of. While only a twisted tiny minority turn to violence, much less mass murder, what’s happened to males in our culture seems hard to ignore.

The politicians and the entertainment moguls and the sociologists all have their answers, even if they’re non answers.

But is it this? That although we live in a society that now believes human beings can be perfected —  with the right child rearing, education, government programs and shared values passed along by our best thinkers and policy makers — we’ve forgotten or stopped believing in the existence of evil.

What if it isn’t just about Batman or rejection by women or being outside the circle of elite cool kids or absent or missing parents? Most of us at one point in our lives try on identities, put on masks, see if they fit, or imagine ourselves as would-be world conquerors —  if only the world would somehow notice. Given the right, or wrong, circumstances, this search can tweak a young person’s thinking.

Why is it always men who fall farthest? Women, usually more sociable and able to seek out support, also struggle of course, sometimes with eating disorders, or addictions or unhealthy relationships. But the tweaked young man, so locked and loaded by forces he doesn’t even recognize, just retreats further into the abyss.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote more than 2,500 years ago that “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”  But we really don’t think that’s true anymore, do we?

And yet, although the lost boys might think they can come and go as they please, the darkness knows better. The abyss knows their names. Evil speaks, and someone is listening.

 

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And the winner on iPhone apps? Google Maps

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Don Miller

It’s back.

Yup. Google Maps is back as an iPhone app, and it’s much better.

Much better than the previous Google mapping app for iPhone — and way better than Apple’s much reviled Maps app that seems to have brought on a Cupertino purge of anyone associated with the fiasco.

Not surprisingly, the morning reviews universally praised Google Maps as the better alternative, and the app quickly shot up to the top of the most downloaded list for iPhone. An iPad app hopefully is not far off.

While Apple continues to insist it is improving the homegrown mapping app, why would anyone care at this point? Apple is so good at so many things, does it really need to try and outmap Google on this? Didn’t think so. And who wants to be sent to the wrong location, end up stranded in the wrong wilderness or missing out on the kind of detailed traffic reports, satellite images and 3-D Google’s app offers without angst or error?

The newly improved Google Maps also offers voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation — previously only available on Android phones.

As one reviewer put it today, the release of Google Maps brings “hope to those who have been having trouble getting around since the Apple mapocalypse.”

 

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Season of giving

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Don Miller

If you’re reading this, most likely the world has not ended.At least not yet.

Which means — interpretations of the Mayan calendar notwithstanding, the 12 Days of Christmas are still in play! (OK, there’s 13 days remaining, but it’s really the 12 Shopping Days of Christmas anyway, right?)

After Thanksgiving, we used this space to urge Santa Cruz County residents to buy locally, and in doing so support local merchants, provide local jobs and help ensure the community reaps the benefit in terms of tax dollars. We’d also like to make another plea: To give locally.

This week, the Sentinel introduced a new online page that allows you, if you’re so inclined, to directly contribute to a number of worthy organizations providing help to the needy, lonely and sick this holiday season.

Just go to santacruzsentinel.com and look for “How to help in Santa Cruz County” and you’ll find a drop-down menu of charitable organizations — all of which we’ve checked out to ensure your donation is getting to the people you want to help. Click on an organization or group and you can either do your own research or donate directly.

If you would like to see us add an additional charitable organization to the list, follow the Facebook link on the page, where you can join a community discussion on worthy causes.

In addition to this new service, we continue to publish articles in print and online about how local people are attempting to help others in Santa Cruz County this season. You can find these stories on our home page.

Earlier this week, for instance, we wrote about Toys for Tots, where a lack of a warehouse put the Watsonville-based organization behind in its annual campaign — until local benefactors donated space. The organization hopes to provide 10,000 toys by Dec. 21 to be distributed through nonprofit groups, churches and food pantries.

Donations are coming in slowly, though, and as of Monday, the toy drive was only a third of the way toward its goal.

You can find Toys for Tots in our “How to Help” directory.  It’s been a difficult few years for helping agencies and organizations, which were hit particularly hard by the 2008-09 recession and a national slump in donations that saw many organizations forced to cut back on services and contributions.

The good thing is that the holiday season is a time when most of us who have more are particularly willing to help those with less.

All of which serves as a reminder, that with two weeks remaining until Christmas, it’s not too late to give your money, your blessings and your time.

Then you’ll discover for yourself that by helping a child, a lonely older person or a family in need, you’ll get back a more precious gift than you might ever hope for.

 

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Keep the pressure on Santa Cruz drug trade

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Don Miller

Take Back Santa Cruz members and community supporters march along rail tracks, picking up trash and drug paraphernalia along the way, to Santa Cruz City Council meeting Tuesday/Dan Coyro, Sentinel photo

Why are people continuing to complain about feeling unsafe, and about homeless camps and trash along beaches and in wooded areas?

It’s not as if these complaints are anything new, although the circumstances, locations and even the faces of protesters change.

In the latest protest, Take Back Santa Cruz joined up with some local men who had posted a video about their efforts to clean up local surfing beaches. They took their complaints, along with accumulated garbage and drug paraphernalia, to the Santa Cruz City Council Tuesday.

Oh, and by the way, did we mention that the latest outcries again center on the real subculture that infects Santa Cruz: drug abusers and dealers.Because if you look back at other high-profile public safety protests — Pogonip and homeless encampments — the common denominator is almost always … drugs.

Look at the daily crime report posted online and in print by the Sentinel and you’ll easily make the connection to most of the crime and criminal elements in our county: if it’s not drugs such as methamphetamines and heroin, then it’s the other popular drug abuse of choice, alcohol. Day after day, month after month, year after year.

Burglaries and violence in the community? Usually connected to drug abuse.

Many homeless in our community aren’t using drugs or alcohol, but many are. But it’s not just transients and scruffy young men with furtive looks and small plastic baggies in backpacks selling and using drugs and leaving behind needles and garbage.

Santa Cruz with its nationally recognized tolerance for lifestyles outside the mainstream and its healthy network of services to help people in need, is often blamed for attracting the drug trade and turning a blind eye toward the mess abusers and dealers leave behind. The truth, however, is the city has changed its stance significantly in recent years.

Recent city councils have worked to make the city safer and less of a magnet to the dispossessed and the dysfunctional. Homeless camps have been raided and taken down. Take Back Santa Cruz, which has played a powerful role in changing attitudes and policies in the city, will probably continue to exert an influence on how social and criminal behaviors are dealt with. Take Back co-founder Pamela Comstock was elected to the Santa Cruz council earlier this month and will join a majority that understands the importance of cleaning up the city.

But the issue of drug abuse in the local community goes a lot further than a city council, or concerned citizens. The facts are rather grim even when it comes to the legal system, since overflowing jails and prisons can’t house the seemingly never-diminishing drug and alcohol addicts and abusers who cause so much of the daily woes in our community. Treatment facilities are hard pressed to keep enough funding to provide incarceration alternatives.

That’s not to say our community should just give up and give in. Local electeds can continue to put the pressure on and support increased policing and security to make the drug trade unwelcome here.

A Santa Cruz council committee on public safety will meet Dec. 17 to discuss the drug problems, issues with homelessness camps and other crime related topics.

And most importantly of all, law abiding residents of Santa Cruz County need to become more engaged in the fight against crime and less tolerant of drug use and abuse.

Out of sight, out of mind has never worked.

For a fascinating examination of how the marijuana culture has transformed a region, and what it means to the worldwide drug trade,  check out this link to New York magazine’s report, “Truce on Drugs.”

The above post is the Santa Cruz Sentinel Editorial for Nov. 29, 2012

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The gift of thanksgiving

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Don Miller

What? Thanksgiving already?

Even if it feels as if summer just slid into the sunset, no matter. We’re here, and what’s not to like? Of all the holidays, Thanksgiving goes down the easiest, like mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie.

Although the consumer-crazed Black Friday darkly encroaches on Turkey Day sloth, I think I’ll sit that one out. I prefer to remain as antiquated as a handwritten letter, or a face-to-face conversation — while continuing in the blessed illusion this one day remains blessedly free of guilt-induced shopping, insincere gifts, treacly music, $6-a-pop gift cards, flowers, gadgets, excessive sugar, regressive costumes or excessive sentimentality.

Nah, none of that. Just gotta show up for dinner. A little football on TV, maybe a walk through autumn crispness to assuage the remorse soon to come regarding the quantity of food enhaled — and a firm resolve to avoid subjects such as how everyone voted in the recent election, or relatives’ and friends’ recent:

  1. divorces
  2. bankruptcies
  3. impending foreclosures
  4. hazy recollections of childhood slights
  5. rehab stints

Slam dunk. Eminently doable. Other than after-dinner cleanup duties, nothing much asked, nothing much required.

Of course, you have to get past the often awkward blessing before dinner delivered by a family elder, who hurriedly intones: “Thank you god, if there is a god, for … um … all the food … and for everyone showing up relatively sober … and for the Giants’ second World Series title, wow, wasn’t that something? … and for the undeniable fact I’m better off than the rest of you …”

Though Thanksgiving started as a day of spiritual reflection, that really isn’t on most menus as we prepare to tryptophan the light fantastic into turkeyed bliss.

So, what to make of “thanksgiving” with a small “t?” The past few years have not been easy times. In a world ruled by greed and violence, it’s a stretch, isn’t it, to go deep and go thankful.

Then again, if I’ve learned anything along the road, through the valleys and sloughs, it’s just this: When I am weak, then I am strong. Accepting hard times and loss as opportunities to practice being grateful, I stop being consumed by what others have done — what they have and I don’t — and allow that to be turned inside out, bringing to light the many gifts and blessings that have come my way, despite my own failures.

Life moves so fast, and if my eyes are focused on the past, on what Mr. So-and-So said or did, or what Miss Just-So didn’t do or say, I miss out on something far more important.

What does this have to do with Thanksgiving?Just this. Giving thanks is transforming. It’s a kind of radical thankfulness, tough to practice, but with a huge upside.

Research shows that people who are grateful are more likely to help others in need. And helping others takes me out of the narrow place where resentment and bitterness wants me to dwell.

Gratitude as an attitude leaves a person happier, less stressed, less materialistic, more physically active, more spiritually aware, more humble.

It’s no coincidence people showered with material blessings or gifted with physical beauty or superior talents often remain unsatisfied. Never rich enough. Never young enough. Never successful enough or noticed enough.

Grateful people often have suffered painful losses, or come up short on youthful dreams — and are only too aware of character defects and failures.

And, yes, there’s a spiritual principle at work: In everything, give thanks.

When in doubt, give thanks.

It’s counter intuitive — but then, it’s easy to give thanks when everything seems to be going well.

Much of life is difficult, often disappointing, but gratitude in the face of this says, “I’m making a choice to trust, rather than be fearful.”

It says, “yes,” instead of “no,” invites me to share the promise with others, unleashes inner freedom, peace and the power to overcome the obsessive thought I have to grab more for myself.

It’s the opposite of self-reliance.

So today, I can make a decision to give thanks for:

Being able to even make the choice … to give thanks.

Waking up.

My wife, who has overcome much and gets to give back more.

The gift of daughters, learning these things themselves, including overcoming struggle and disappointment.

Freedom of speech, and the freedom to disagree, even with this essay.

The solitude of late autumn. The blue-red of sunrise. Walking into late November sunsets, the soft fade of the endless horizon and the silvery ocean’s haunting call.

Forgiveness and grace.

Why wouldn’t I be thankful?

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Election 2012: Day before tomorrow

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Don Miller

David Goldman / AP-- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney arrives to his election-night rally, in Boston.

Time for some day after, day before the rest of it starts, review of Tuesday’s election. To start, here’s Thursday’s Sentinel Editorial:

Santa Cruz County voters, and California voters, demonstrated in Tuesday’s election they are willing to raise taxes, even on themselves.

The biggest election news statewide was the success of Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown’s measure raising the sales tax by a quarter cent and income taxes on higher income filers to avoid massive budget cuts to public schools and universities. The measure won easily, by nearly 8 percentage points statewide, but had a gathered a staggering 73 percent in Santa Cruz County — which just about mirrored the percentage for President Barack Obama from solidly Democratic county voters (nearly 75 percent). Republican candidates had little chance in state and congressional races as well, where incumbents won reelection easily. Voters in the unincorporated county and city of Santa Cruz also supported measures raising the tax on hotel guests. In Capitola, voters gave narrow support to Measure O, permanently raising the sales tax by a quarter cent, and in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, Measure L, a $150 million bond measure to improve facilities and infrastructure, passed easily. Voters in Davenport also supported a parcel tax for their school.

Otherwise, the ballot measures pretty much went down as predicted — and mostly followed the Sentinel list of endorsements. One exception was Measure P on the Santa Cruz ballot, where, as we predicted, backers afterward hailed the decisive yes vote requiring a city vote on a desal plant as indicating a lack of support for any such facility.

In the election on Proposition 34, voters also said they want to keep the death penalty in force, despite the high cost, unfairness and unlikelihood Death Row prisoners will be executed. We said that based on these factors, capital punishment isn’t working and should be ended in the state. Santa Cruz County voters agreed, with 63 percent supporting repeal of the death penalty.

Voters, however, saw it differently, and shot down the measure by nearly six percentage points. Although 66 percent of Santa Cruz County voters supported Proposition 37, which would have required labeling of genetically modified foods, state voters rejected this poorly crafted measure by more than 7 percentage points.

Not surprisingly, state voters also turned down Proposition 32, which would have banned unions from taking members’ dues and using them for political purposes. Although millions in outside-the-state dollars flowed in from conservative Republican groups in support of 32, and against Prop. 30, voters saw through the negative ad blitzes.

On the Santa Cruz City Council, as expected Mayor Don Lane and longtime former councilwoman Cynthia Mathews cruised to easy victories. Newcomer Pamela Comstock also won, unsurprisingly. Bicycle advocate Micah Posner won the fourth seat, polling well in a community that supports both bike access and his stands on environmental issues. Although we didn’t endorse Posner, he’s an energetic and committed advocate for his positions and we take him at his word he’ll work to represent the broader community on issues including public safety and economic development.

The two candidates we endorsed in the Capitola City Council race, newcomer Ed Bottorff and longtime Councilman Dennis Norton, both appear to have won. In the hotly contested 5th supervisorial district, our choice, former California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, holds a precarious 27-vote lead over Eric Hammer, whose popularity in the San Lorenzo Valley and among Democrats was significant. With an unknown number of ballots still to be counted in the district, it remains a tossup.

***

As for the main squeeze Tuesday, the presidential election, here’s a few links to chew on (and spit out if they don’t go down without gagging):

Atlantic: Why conservative forecasters got the election totally wrong, and why Nate Silver had it right.

Politico: Mitt Romney quickly recognized he had a problem with his initial Benghazi statements — which kept him from bringing up the issue in the election’s final weeks.

Washington Post: How the Obama team got the jump on the Republicans and Mitt Romney early on — and how Romney’s mistakes kept him from coming back. Then the first debate put him back into the race, until a storm finally was the coup de grace.

Politico: Republican mega donors question whether the $1.2 billion spent on Romney and allies was worth it — and whether they will pony up again with the big bucks for so little change.

And, finally, my favorite column today on why Romney lost, from Dana Milbank — he really was a rich guy who was insulated from the rest of us.

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Obama gets another shot

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Don Miller

The Santa Cruz Sentinel Editorial for Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012

Maybe not a mandate, but an impressive win nonetheless.

President Barack Obama and his team did what they had to do to win a second term, winning in most of the key swing states over Republican Mitt Romney. And though the election, in terms of the Electoral College, did not turn into a Bush-Gore 2000 cliffhanger, it also showed a country divided.

Nevertheless, we hope the 2012 election will not lead to more partisan divisiveness in Washington D.C., but be a new beginning for President Obama.Because, after the most expensive campaign in history, it could turn out to be a pyrrhic victory for the winner.

Here’s why: The Senate will stay Democratic; the House Republican. Nothing much changed there, and the divisions in Congress have mostly blocked any meaningful progress on budget reforms in the past two years. Through most of Tuesday evening, Romney was still leading in popular votes (they were virtually tied with 73 percent of the votes in) although the West Coast votes were expected to give Obama this victory as well.

But more than that, the specter of an incumbent president — one who was elected handily in 2008 and whose popularity in his first year in office soared — having to fight for his political life may be problematic, if Obama chooses to govern from the left.

While his victory Tuesday night was a remarkable political achievement, considering the state of the economy, Obama should move toward the center if he wants his second term to fulfill his great promise and to begin to solve the deep-seated economic and social problems in the country.

There’s no reason for Obama to emulate other presidents in recent times who have spent their political capital, if not their leadership energy, and limped through a final four years. Think of the second term of George W. Bush.

For Romney, his election was a longshot, based on most polling the week before the election. Romney had to run the table in key states such as Virginia, Florida, Iowa and, of course, Ohio, to have a chance to win enough electoral votes. He didn’t. Romney was weakened by a long and bitterly contested primary, and the need to placate the most conservative wing of his own party. By the time he moved to the center, starting with the October debates, many voters had their minds made up.

But more than that, this result again shows Republicans with too narrow a base to win national elections. The Obama coalition of blacks, Hispanics, women and younger voters trumps the white, suburban, evangelical coalition Republicans won with during the Reagan-Bush-Bush elections.

And while polls showed evangelicals strongly supporting Romney, the Republican’s Mormon faith made this political relationship standoffish and wary from the start. The party’s inability to reach Hispanics, mainly through fear mongering on the immigration issue, adds to this failure to recognize how the country is changing.

In the end, Democrats were better organized, again, and got their turnout where they needed it. Republicans, for all the money spent, really didn’t change the 2008 electoral map in any significant way. Democrats’ early attack ads identifying Romney as a heartless, outsourcing Bain capitalist were more telling in the final count than the Republican’s earnest attempts at appearing presidential.

For Obama, he becomes the first president to be reelected with the unemployment rate as high as it is — 7.9 percent. Had Republicans put up a challenger who was not so easily identified with the much-resented very rich, they may have taken the presidency.

Republicans have a problem. American is a center-right country, with enough voters center-left to safely say that a winning strategy in this century has to move toward that very middle. But Republicans have had to placate tea party partisans and also have shown a penchant for antagonizing key segments of the electorate they can’t afford to lose. Witness the losses in Indiana and Missouri of the two Republican Senate candidates who put their feet in their respective mouths regarding rape and abortion — both races the Republicans were initially heavily favored to win. But angering women voters is usually not the way to win elections.

The national political divide is much like what we see in California, where moderate Republicans have pretty much become extinct, and one-party rule seems to be settling in.

The president is obviously a smart man who surely wants his second term to have more successes, more hopeful change, than his first.

He now gets that chance.

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The running man: Election night — Obama’s big win, state and local races

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Don Miller

This blog will be updated throughout the night, especially as results on state ballot measures and local races come in.

6 p.m. Hmmm. Just as close as expected. What trends can be seen in presidential race? Romney seems to be doing well, based on early precincts in key states, but way too close to make any definitive statement. Makes you wonder, though, how landslides used to happen … LBJ in ’64 over Goldwater; Nixon over McGovern (who carried one state, Massachusetts) in ’72. Reagan swamping Mondale in ’84. But this one … yikes. 152-123 Electoral College Romney in early calls on states.

Eerily, Florida has gone into 2000 toss-up mode, with more than 7 million votes counted and virtually tied. Obama seems to be running well in Ohio. Wisconsin called for president by one cable outlet, but not all.

6:45 p.m. Democrats seem to be doing well in keeping control of Senate, winning in Indiana and Wisconsin, where former governor and Bush admin official Tommy Thompson is projected to lose. Republicans seem to have a lock on continuing majority in House. Division.

Youth vote for Obama, so important and overwhelming in 2008, has slipped this year, according to Politico. But no matter, Florida may go for Obama, according to analysts, which would doom Romney chances. Meanwhile New Hampshire called for Obama — another state Romney felt he needed to win, even with only 4 electoral votes.

Florida starting to look highly doubtful for Romney, with Democratic precincts still to come in. If so, President Obama will be reelected. Other trends the president must like: turnout is very high in key states — Democrats counted on their get out the vote efforts again, and knew they needed to fend off Republicans’ “ground game.” Based on data so far, they got it.

7:40 p.m. Key Republicans who have been touting a Romney resurgence in recent weeks starting to show some discouragement. Mainly because of Florida. They know fully well losing the state means the election is essentially over. Reports coming from Romney camp that bad news starting to settle in.

7:55 Despite gloomy EC map, Romney leads in popular vote by 1.6 million votes, although this will be whittled down by California, where polls close in 5 min.

Sarah Palin already bemoaning Obama second term.

8:30 p.m. It’s over. Obama reelected. The drama dissipated quickly as the president took command in almost all swing states. But the writing had been on the wall for at least an hour, maybe longer.

9:20 p.m. With almost all swing states called for the president, Romney still waiting to make the call for concession.

California: Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax hike, behind in early returns. Molly Munger’s Prop. 38 is already dead at the early voting doorstep. Prop. 37, the favorite of the environmental left, is trailing, and so is the measure that would electrocute the death penalty.

10 p.m. Mitt Romney gives concession speech, with all the disappointment in his short speech of a man who worked for 18 months — make that five years — to become president, only to fall short. Certainly his last campaign speech. He worked hard, wanted it badly, believed he would get it, but it was not to be. All those speeches. All that money spent. All those hopes dashed. Interesting point made on CNN — no ideas, no issues, not the speech of a movement leader who wants his agenda, his vision to live on. Personal speech, but not one with any political future. Obviously.

Deflated Republicans.

Awaiting Obama victory speech.

10:30 Still waiting. Back in Santa Cruz County, however, Santa Cruz City Council lining up as Lane, Mathews, Comstock … and Micah Posner, who is staying ahead of Richelle Noroyan for the fourth seat. In Capitola, newcomer Ed Bottorf is leading in the race for two council seats, with longtime councilman Dennis Norton in second. But in the biggest development, Bruce McPherson has opened up nearly a 1,000 vote lead in the 5th district supervisor race, with more than 70 percent of the vote counted. (Vote counting much expedited tonight over recent elections). But San Lorenzo Valley vote still to be counted, which will help Hammer. Obama turnout was expected by many Democrats to put Hammer over the top.

10:35 To the sound of “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” President Obama and family take stage in Chicago. With little voice left, a hoarse Obama delivers a sober speech about how “the best is yet to come” — which, of course, depends in part how the president can deliver the change he promised four years ago. Gracious toward Romney, and even says he wants to sit down with Romney and talk about shared ideas about moving forward. Nice touch. But huge cheers for his mention of Joe Biden and of course Michelle. But Obama being Obama, and as the winner, he gets to expound on the meaning of the election. In fact, it’s his best speech since the campaign started. Where has this guy been?

“The long campaign is now over,” he says. Hits bipartisan notes, “reaching out to leaders of both parties … we’ve got more work to do.”

11:15 p.m. Prop. 30 takes 40,000 vote lead, with 35 percent of vote counted. Really, it’s the only ballot measure on the margin. Death penalty will remain. Three strikes will be amended. Food producers won’t have to label genetically modified foods for consumers. Unions will still be able to use members’ dues for political causes. Penalties for human trafficking will get stiffer. Since most law enforcement officials supported the sensible modifications of Three Strikes, this is really a law and order vote, even as the state is going 56-41 for Obama.

11:30 p.m. Obama goes up by more than 1 million votes over Romney, making his victory all the more convincing and decisive. Good analysis of challenges Republicans face in future in WSJ column just posted and of the big bet the Obama campaign made six months ago in terms of reelection strategy — a bet that paid off Tuesday night. But the conservative Journal’s Opinion Page editorialized that it was “Hope over experience” that won for a president who demonized his opponent and ran with no vision for a second term. On the liberal side, however, The New York Times called Obama’s reelection a “strong endorsement” of his economic policies. And the Sentinel editorialized that Obama gets a “second chance” to get it right for the country.

11:45 Eric Hammer dramatically closes gap in 5th district supervisors race. Less than 200 votes behind McPherson, meaning final result will probably come from uncounted absentee ballots.

Prop. 30 now up by 193,000 votes, which would be good news for schools. Santa Cruz County 73 percent for 30.

Lane, Mathews, Comstock and Posner seem locks for Santa Cruz City Council. Richelle Noroyan, who we endorsed, told our reporter she just didn’t get enough early support (meaning campaign donations). In Capitola — which is other contested council race — Bottorff and Norton look like the winners.

The $150 million Pajaro Valley school bond looks like it will pass, getting about 65 percent of vote and needing only 55 percent. Capitola’s sales tax hike, Measure O, is up by 31 votes with all precincts in. Measure P, the Santa Cruz measure requiring the city to put desal to a vote, is winning handily with more than 71 percent.

Midnight, and into Nov. 7: Prop. 30 lengthens lead, and this could be a big victory for Gov. Jerry Brown, who put his name, time and future into getting this passed, in a state that has turned down tax increase after tax increase. By 12:30 a.m., Prop. 30 was well ahead by nearly 300,000 votes.

12:40 McPherson-Hammer precincts all in and McPherson holding onto 26 vote lead, with absentees still to be counted, which could take a week or more. Too close to call.

Enough for tonight.

 

 

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Election Day and the Sentinel

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Don Miller

If you  wake up Wednesday morning expecting to read a print newspaper delivering election results,  you’ll probably be disappointed, at least in terms of local and state races.

While it’s been true  for at least one presidential cycle that the Sentinel and most other newspapers bring election results via digital platforms such as our website and mobile apps, some readers undoubtedly will wonder why it can’t be like the old days. But the delivery of news has changed and the days when the Sentinel staff would remain on the job until the wee early morning hours to get out a special edition blaring last-minute election results has passed into history’s ever-expansive dustbin. These days, we still keep working into the late night, early morning, but to file online.

But even our digital presentation may not provide complete results – especially if the presidential race remains undecided late into Tuesday night. Could happen, although it’s hard with only a handful of hours before polls open, to see the Electoral College swinging toward Mitt Romney. If President Barack Obama wins Pennsylvania and Ohio, plus Wisconsin and Iowa relatively early (before West Coast polls close at 8 p.m.), then the president will probably already have won reelection before Santa Cruz County finishes voting. (And remember, as news outlets continue to remind us, that no Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio.)

Then again, this election could be another cliffhanger. Who can forget 2000 — I can’t — and the still disputed election that went on into December, leaving 537 votes in Florida to decide whether Democratic Vice President Al Gore or Republican George W. Bush would be the next president. The court-ordered solution, which gave Bush the presidency, continues to fuel the enmity between the two major parties, making bipartisanship, never the strong suit of American governance, a hollow ideal, and a festering sore sure to carry over into the next four years for either Obama or Romney.

Meanwhile, the prognostication racket continues unabated. Most of the press is going to New York Times numbers guru Nate Silver, whose FiveThirtyEight blog has Democrats exulting (Silver tweeted Monday night that Obama now has a 91 percent chance of winning the Electoral College, based on his analysis of small-state polls), and Republicans fuming. Silver’s take is that Obama’s 2009 auto bailout assured him of the 2012 election — meaning the Ohio vote. Add that to the bounce that many see coming the president’s way for his post-Sandy-superstorm efforts, the new National Geographic film Seal Team Six about the killing of Osama bin Laden, which debuted Sunday night — and Obama seems to be back on track to win.

Maybe so.

If not, will this race, with polls showing the candidates in terms of the popular vote virtually tied, prove as knotty and divisive as 2000? For the sake of moving forward in dealing with America’s many issues and economic problems, I hope not.

Locally, we’ll be following the 5th district supervisor’s race between Eric Hammer and Bruce McPherson  – but here too, the final result could take a while. If it’s close that means waiting for county elections counts absentee ballots. In close elections in the past, this has taken as long as two weeks or longer to declare a winner. One caveat, however: just as with a presidential race or any high profile election, look for the candidate who is in the lead after election night. For whatever reason, it’s rare to see a result reverse with either a recount (in especially close races) or as absentee ballots continue to be counted.

The other race to watch is the Santa Cruz City Council. Incumbent Don Lane, currently the city’s mayor, and longtime former councilwoman Cynthia Mathews are considered easy winners, with newcomer Pamela Comstock, co-founder of Take Back Santa Cruz and a local businesswoman, also considered likely to win. She’s raised a ton of money and garnered significant and telling support and endorsements. The fourth and final seat could be a toss up between longtime bicycle advocate Micah Posner, who has strong backing from old-line progressives and environmentalists in the community, and newcomer Richelle Noroyan, who has  business and Democratic party experience, but has lagged somewhat in terms of attracting the kind of support Comstock attracted.

We’ll also be watching a few local measures that could be affected by state ballot measures: Measure L, a bond measure for Pajaro Valley Schools, and Measure O, a permanent quarter cent sales tax hike for Capitola. While both are favored to pass — Santa Cruz County voters, for the most part, tend to be tolerant of tax increases if they think they’re really needed — it will be interesting to watch the fate of state Proposition 30. That’s Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax hike measure that will keep schools, including public higher ed, from further cuts — or so says Brown.

We’ll also be watching the hotly debated Proposition 37, which seeks to force food producers to label genetically modified food, along with measures on the death penalty, three strikes and union dues for political contributions. Should be a fascinating evening.

Here’s a list of our endorsements for president, and in state and local races.

I’ll be filing a blog during the evening, making a few observations on what’s happening. And the Sentinel will your one-stop shop for election night. We’ll be posting results as we receive them. Our reporters will break election news on Twitter and their election updates will be posted directly on our home page. We’ll also have updates directly from the county and state, and we’ll have full coverage of the Presidential race from Digital First Media.

Like I said, should be quite a night.

 

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