Well, I lost the election for Student Bar Association President at San Joaquin College of Law.
Before I say anything else, I want to give a hearty “Thank you!” to those who voted for me. I’m aware that some of you read my blog.
Last week, one of my friends and regular readers asked me if I thought my blog readership — which as of today’s stats is averaging 78 per day (today, there were 84 visitors, who read a total of 97 pages; one less than the daily average number of pages read) — would drop off after the election. I hope not. For one thing, not in a million years could anyone say this blog was a campaign tool. (It may be a lot of things. “Campaign tool,” it was not.) If you came here only because of the election, well, I just hope you’ll stay and participate in future blog entries by posting comments.
But anyway, you came here to read about the election…
…it was a good loss, if one can refer to a loss as good. For one thing, as I predicted in a previous post, the students still won; they have a terrific person as President of the Student Bar Association. And at least 69 of those students will be happy to know that she is not me. 😉
For those who track such things, Shannon Pell was a shoo-in. I could have put “nuts and chews” into a few mailboxes and perhaps narrowed the gap by…uh…one more vote. (Where were you tonight, Richard? Whatsamatter? You didn’t like the Ferrero Rocher? I’ll have you know I spent $1.17 on that!)
Seriously, Shannon won the election with 69 votes to my 52; Chrystine Carvalho bested my running mate by 54 to 40.
There were a few interesting moments, even during the vote-counting. After a long string of pronouncements of “Pell…Pell…Pell” from the current SBA President, reading from the ballots, he suddenly said, “Horowitz.” Before I realized I’d said it, I blurted out: “Now there’s a name we don’t hear very often.” Then came a long string of “Horowitz…Horowitz…Horowitz.” Next time I’m going to ask them to shuffle the ballots!
I hope I don’t damage their reputations by saying so, but after watching the vote count and while re-growing fingernails Shannon, Chrystine, Shonda and myself shared three bottles of champagne that Shannon and I had bought — we didn’t drink it alone! We shared it with the vote counters and a couple of visiting well-wishers. I know, I know, the hoi polloi are wondering why we only served them beer — well, actually, they’re wondering why I just called them hoi polloi and thinking they’re damn glad they didn’t vote for me! (But it’s a joke, okay!)
At any rate, approximately six to eight or so of us sat around (the number varied throughout the evening) and talked about all kinds of things. For my part, I promised not to try to boost my blog ratings or ever make any money off of anything that was said, in exchange for not being dragged through Clovis attached to a rope attached to a horse with a burr under its saddle. This is a serious thing, because this next weekend is, coincidentally, Clovis Rodeo Day. So you’ll understand if I don’t give any details.
One nice thing: I wasn’t pounded into the ground; I made a respectable showing. If I knew anything about math (hey, I was a philosophy major), I’d throw out some nifty statistical facts. The best I can tell, if I did it right, is that Shannon received 1.3 votes for every 1 of mine. And I like that a lot better than saying that she kicked my *ss!
But it’s not just about votes. In the process of running for SBA President, I made some new friends. For one, Shannon Pell, my “opponent,” is a pretty neat woman. I hope to get the opportunity to work with her over the coming year. Just because I didn’t win the election doesn’t mean I can’t still see some of my goals achieved. In the three-plus hours we spent talking tonight, Shannon indicated that she, too, would like to see these things happen. (I also found out she’s a flaming liberal.)
Alright! Alright! I lied! She’s not a flaming liberal! Sheesh. Can’t a guy have a little fun? (Get that rope off my ankle!)
Still — and in spite of losing — sitting and talking with Shannon and the others, I had one of the most enjoyable nights I’ve had in 2004. And it’s only April.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Lisa // Apr 21, 2004 at 9:17 am
Congratulations on a race well run, Rick! I know the school and students will benefit from your willingness to be involved in the coming year. Congrats to you and Shonda and to Shannon and Chrystine for two clean campaigns. It was, overall, a clean and friendly race… and that was a nice change from the political campaigns occurring outside of the law school! 🙂
2 Shannon // Apr 21, 2004 at 3:12 pm
Rick: Again, thank you for the hearty congratulations. We will indeed be working together in the future and I look forward to it. And thank you for placing the link for this site within the LegalPad posting for I was very interested to learn more about your writing following our discussion last evening. Shannon.
3 Rick // Apr 21, 2004 at 3:29 pm
Thanks for dropping by, Shannon! What a pleasant surprise!
I hope you get a chance to look around the blog and that you like what you see.
Thanks again for a great campaign. I look forward to working with you — and I’m going to hold you to that idea of joining Delta Theta Phi next year!
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