Bob Dunning: Newcomers face a rough political road

THE POWER OF THE INCUMBENCY … nice thing about the school board race is how civil the whole thing was … yes, there may have been a few signs stolen here and there, but we hear those reports every election, and every time there’s a report, the incidents increase … that tells me it’s just a bunch of apolitical vandals, striking where they can … stop the publicity and you’ll probably stop the thievery at the same time …

Susan Lovenburg certainly earned a repeat term on the school board and there’s no arguing with the longtime efforts on the part of our schools by board newcomer Nancy Peterson … both, I’m sure, will serve the town well … as for Alan Fernandes, well, he has a bright future in this town if he plans to run for office again … heck, he has a bright future in this town even if he doesn’t run for office again … you can look at this as his getting-to-know-you campaign … in a crowded field, with only two seats up for grabs, it’s tough for a newcomer to break into the top tier … even a talented newcomer like Fernandes …

Jose Granda showed surprising strength, presumably among the No on E folks, while it’s hard to determine what Claire Sherman’s campaign was all about … fair or not, when she signaled she wasn’t in the business of raising any money at all to run her campaign, it told many folks in town she wasn’t a serious candidate … I’m sure she considered herself a very serious candidate, but that didn’t come across to the electorate at large … our household of two voters was communicated with by every candidate except Sherman … that’s a tough way for a newcomer to get her message out …

A SQUEAKER TO BE SURE … yes, Measure E made it, but just by the hair of its chinny-chin-chin … the well finally may be running dry, even with ever-willing Davis voters …

TURKEY TIME … thanks to my friend Crystal, who pointed out a letter to the editor in Tuesday’s paper, I now know that Davis Community Meals is seeking “uncooked turkeys” among other items to help provide nutritious meals for those who might otherwise go without … and on the very same “Forum” page, I learned that “Davis turkeys must go” because they’ve become quite a nuisance in this town … as Crystal noted, comparing the complementary demands of the two letters: “Problem solved.” … Davis, where no problem is too big … or too small …

E IS FOR ELECTORAL … I don’t know about you, but I’m really, really tired of the Electoral College and so-called “battleground” states … when the two major party candidates make 20 times more visits to Nevada than they do to California, something’s wrong with the system … from now on, let’s just let Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida vote and the rest of us can put up our feet and watch … wait a minute, that’s what we do now …

OCEAN BREEZES … given that the president dominated the Pacific Coast and much of the eastern seaboard while Mitt Romney painted the nation’s midsection red, there may be something to the theory that salt air makes folks tilt left and dry air makes folks tilt right …

A NEW CITY IS BORN … just got an invite to a gathering from a family who lists their home as being in “South Davis, CA 95618.” … glad to see that folks on the Other Side of the Freeway have finally wised up and formed their own city, with a real ZIP code and everything … it’s about time they had a say in their own affairs … maybe as things develop, we can form some sort of sister-city relationship with them … first, though, they need to elect a city council and a school board and figure out who they’re going to buy their water from … maybe even ban firewood just to let people know they’re serious …

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net