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.