Money

Oregon law requires anyone spending more than $300 on a political campaign to create a "candidate committee." If you spend more than $2000 you are required to file details of all transactions at the Secretary of State's website, and information about those transactions is available to the public. If you're wondering what it takes to run a campaign in a town of 7000 residents, here's what I spent:

100 lawn signs + stakes..............$582.72
postage ..............................$21.00
big sign ............................ $40.00
purchase mailing list from county ... $27.79
3200 postcards + postage ..........$1,534.11

Let me know if you have a creative use for "Arthur Babitz For Mayor" lawn signs. They served as handy trays at our election night party.

Update

Here are the 4:14AM updates from Hood River County. I think these numbers are close to final, since the turnout calculates to about 86% of registration:

Mayor CITY OF HOOD RIVER
Vote for  1
Arthur Babitz .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,738   66.59
Bob Palmer .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       852   32.64
WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        20     .77

Fire Bond:

14-34 CITY OF HOOD RIVER
Vote for  1
Yes  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,438   51.84
No.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,336   48.16

History

It's exciting to play a bit part in such an historic evening. You can view full Hood River County election returns here. According to the 9:50 PM accounting (100% precincts reporting) I won the mayor's race:

Mayor CITY OF HOOD RIVER
Vote for  1
Arthur Babitz .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,320   66.47
Bob Palmer .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       653   32.88
WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        13     .65

Also important is our city fire department equipment and facilities bond, which seems to have passed. It says a great deal that the people of Hood River are willing to pass this bond measure even in the face of the economic crisis:

14-34 CITY OF HOOD RIVER
Vote for  1
Yes  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,076   51.51
No.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,013   48.49

Election Day, 2008

I suppose I could spend election day watching exit polls, but this seemed like a better idea. Fresh, wet snow-- just enough to cover the rocks and provide some perspective. In twenty years, what will I remember most about today?

100 Years Ago Today

On November 3, 1908 voters of Hood River were deciding between William Howard Taft and William Jennings Bryan. Teddy Roosevelt was retiring, and his hand picked successor Taft won.

It was four years before women would win the right to vote in Oregon (national women's suffrage didn't happen until 1920). Hood River County had just been created in June by a ballot initiative. Here's the partisan breakdown of the Hood River County electorate in its first election:

The End Is Near

Time to plan your election evening activities. Columbia Riverkeeper is inviting everyone to a non-partisan celebration at Double Mountain Brewery from 5PM until midnight. They will have the street closed off, with a heated tent for watching election returns. There will be beer, food, and events for kids too.

Arthur For Mayor election headquarters is just a few blocks away, at Brian's Pourhouse. I'll be hanging out there from about 6:30 until we have local results, which is usually by 8:30. After that we'll hopefully join the Riverkeeper party.