Ledger-Dispatch

By Raheem Hosseini (editor@ledger-dispatch.com= )=20

A polling volunteer trucks in one of = the first=20 batches of ballots to be totaled Tuesday night at the county = elections=20 office.

Photo by: Raheem=20 Hosseini
The early results are in and = Amador County=20 agrees with the state - mostly.

As California voters went = Tuesday, so too=20 did county voters, except when it came to the four tribal gaming = initiatives on=20 the statewide ballot, which local voters rejected and California as a = whole=20 approved.

In every other contest, from presidential primaries to=20 community college funding, unofficial county results nearly mirrored the = state's, with Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. John McCain = (R-Ariz.)=20 projected as the big winners. County and state voters also rejected = ballot=20 initiatives requesting increased funding for community colleges and one = amending=20 legislative term limits. The defeat of Proposition 91, a transportation = funding=20 proposal already on the books, was no surprise.

Registrars of = voters=20 across the state have 28 days after the election to certify the results. = County=20 election officials will begin canvassing Amador's 27 polling places next = week=20 and could start hand counting the ballots by the end of next week, with = the=20 certified results to be presented to the board of supervisors next=20 month.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there were at least 301,507 = unprocessed=20 ballots statewide, with most counties, including Amador, that hadn't yet = reported their unprocessed estimates to the secretary of state. A county = election staffer said Wednesday she had about two long postal crates of = mail-in=20 ballots to tabulate.

The results of the tribal gaming = initiatives, which=20 requested expanded gaming operations for four Southern California = tribes, were=20 not entirely surprising, according to Tim Hodson, executive director of = the=20 Center for California Studies.

At last count, supporters of the=20 initiatives had spent more than $100 million on a well-run campaign, he = said, a=20 figure that could rise with the release of final campaign financial = statements.=20 Supporters were able to take advantage of a $14.5 billion state deficit, = Hodson=20 said, while the opposition wasn't as well funded and not as successful = at=20 convincing voters the initiatives were a bad deal.

The state's = budget=20 crisis may have also doomed the community college initiative, which = suffered=20 from "really bad timing," according to Hodson.

For Hodson, the = state's=20 most interesting race may have been the contest between McCain and = former=20 Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose 34 percent wasn't enough to = overtake the=20 senator's 42 percent.

A modified primary system in which = Republicans=20 prevent Independent voters from participating in their primaries seemed = designed=20 for the more conservative Romney, but his inability to "catch fire" with = California voterts and a question of electability may have doomed him, = Hodson=20 said.

Speaking of the Democrats, Clinton received 52 percent of = the vote=20 to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's 42.4 percent. In Amador County, both = candidates=20 received smaller support, with former Sen. John Edwards more than = doubling his=20 statewide showing with nearly 9 percent of the local = vote.

Come=20 back for full coverage Friday.

Raheem = Hosseini