June 13, 2008

ELECTION ‘08

Election Reflection

By Bill Highlander
Editor

The turnout of voters for the primary election on June 3 was, as expected, low. Only 35 percent of registered voters in Santa Clara county mailed in a ballot or showed up at polling places.

Dave Cortese

As expected also, a runoff will be required during the general election in November to elect a county supervisor representing District 3 and a city council person for District 8.

Dave Cortese, currently San Jose vice-mayor and District 8 council member, came out ahead with 42 percent of the votes (17,152). Otto Lee, patent attorney and Sunnyvale city councilman, got 31.3 percent (13,852 votes).

Rose Herrera

In District 8, Rose Herrera and Pat Waite will face each other in the general election. Herrera received 23.3 percent of the votes (3,304); Waite came in a close second with 20.8 percent (2,948 votes).

According to campaign reports, Waite spent more than twice on the campaign than Herrera ($76,805.05 to $37,750.13). Politics consumes a lot of money. In the presidential race, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent already. Candidates in District 8 spent nearly $278,000, which for the heck of it, comes to about $19.51 per vote cast.

Otto Lee

Both candidates are newcomers to politics. Herrera has emphasized her involvement with Evergreen; Waite has focused on his financial and business background. Herrera and Waite have already continued efforts to raise funds, to seek endorsements and to persuade voters to support them in the November run off

Pat Waite

A total of 14,167 votes were cast by voters in District 8. Craig Mann came in third, perhaps hurt by the attack ads by the San Jose Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee that spent $36, 600 dollars on the ads.

Surprisingly, Sylvia Alvarez, who had dropped out of the race but too late to have her name taken off the ballot, still received 1,431 votes.

The general election is expected have a large voter turnout since a new president of the United States will be elected. It will be an historic election with the Democrat’s presumptive nominee Barrack Obama being the first African American to potentially becoming president. Voters will have a clear choice between the two candidates and their policies for running the country.