Final California Election Returns Reveal Interesting Patterns and Quirks in Statewide Office Races Starting with Schwarzenegger's Win

Minor party candidates received 5.1% of the vote, with Green Party candidate Peter Camejo getting 2.3% statewide. Camejo's highest numbers came from Santa Cruz County at 6.9%, Humboldt at 6.8%, Mendocino at 6% and San Francisco at 5.4%. Despite the fact that the result of the Governor's race was a foregone conclusion, there were very few voters who cast a symbolic vote for the Green Party or other minor candidates at the top of the ballot.

In some of the "down ticket" races, the numbers were a bit different, with the high water mark being the race for Insurance Commissioner where 10.6% voted for minor party candidates. The Libertarian Party candidate in that race received 3.7% of the vote, topping the Greens and other minor party candidates.

The statewide map showing county by county results in the Governor's race is most revealing. Angelides carried only 6 counties statewide: Los Angeles and the Bay Area Counties of Marin, Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz, and in four of these counties he won, he received less than 50% of the vote. Only in the most liberal county in the state, San Francisco, where he won 62.8% of the vote (to 29.8% for Schwarzenegger) and Alameda County where he got 57% of the vote, did he crack the 50% barrier.

Angelides carried LA County, but by an anemic 49.1% to 46.1%. This gave him less than a 60,000 vote advantage in the state's biggest county. It is not that Democrats did not turnout (although LA was below the statewide average in turnout again) as other Democrats who won statewide offices racked up much higher percentages. Debra Bowen, who won the Secretary of State office by the closest margin statewide (3.1%) roared out of LA with 58% of the vote and a 448,203 vote advantage there that was more than her margin of victory in the state. Others had higher percentages, and even Cruz Bustamante who got crushed statewide won LA County by twice the margin as Angelides. There was a lot of ticket splitting going on in Los Angeles.

Schwarzenegger carried Orange County, with the second highest number of registered voters by a bone crushing 69.7% to 25.5%. He carried other counties outside of the Orange Curtain by higher margins, including 14 rural counties where he exceeded 70% of the vote. Tiny Glenn County proved to be the most conservative county of all--for Schwarzenegger, the Republican ticket, and ballot measures. In Glenn, Schwarzenegger won 76.6% of the vote to Angelides 18.9%, a staggering 58.7% gap.

Schwarzenegger carried Imperial County by a mere 339 votes. Why is that important in a race he won statewide in a landslide? Because that is one of the two counties in the 80th Assembly District, the hottest contested Assembly race where incumbent Republican Bonnie Garcia won over Steve Clute, the Democratic nominee by the slimmest of margins. Despite the Governor's race being that close, Garcia won Imperial County by 1991 votes, just about her entire margin of victory in the two counties that are in her district. If Clute had done just a little bit better than Angelides performance in Imperial County, he would have won that seat. Many voters must have split their tickets-- voted for Angelides and then voted for Garcia, since about the same number voted in the Governor's race as in the Assembly race.

But in Counties where the gap between Schwarzenegger and Angelides exceeded or neared 50%, it is amazing any Democrats had a chance at all.

Oh, and by the way, Angelides got more votes than Republicans did in four statewide races: Poochigian (Attorney General), Claude Parrish (Treasurer), Tony Strickland (Controller) and Dennis Mountjoy (US Senator).