Greetings from the capital of commerce in the sunshine state. That’s right, the fine folks at the Florida Chamber of Commerce invited me to hang out with them for the night as they watch the election results come in. Or perhaps more correctly they told me I could come and hang out with them so long as I wrote about how dominant a political force they were, and I agreed not to bother Mark Wilson when he’s talking to “grown ups”.
So I agreed, and here we are. There are a lot of storylines that will be unfolding throughout the night, not the least of which will be the fate of Republican State Committeeman candidate and Chamber employee Adam Babbington, who faces not only a heavily financed opponent in Jeff “Back on Track” Howell, but also the nefarious “Robo Calls” of GOP State Chairman Jim Greer in support of Babbington’s other opponent, Terry Kestor. The odds are stacked against “AB” to say the least. Luckily, he has a supportive family to console him, and a load of liquor the Chamber shipped in to entertain their guests. Which is cool, I guess, if you like to drink and all. They’ve also got food from Gordo’s, and maybe now faithful blog readers will begin to understand why I shaved and put on pants on a Tuesday night even though I’m not getting paid.
(Note- I didn’t actually shave, instead pulling a Kurt Warner and trimming down the scruff into something that looks like I think about my appearance once every few days, instead of once every few weeks. People can talk about his Super Bowl ring, his inspirational “from bagging groceries to throwing touchdowns” story, his overexposed and unfortunately coiffured wife Brenda, but I think the lasting legacy of Kurt Warner will be his introduction of the perennial five o’clock shadow into mainstream society. Scruff: It’s not just for Don Johnson anymore.)
Back to the election: Babbington’s race is but one of the many local elections that could be decided tonight. A quick overview of some of the stories I’ll be covering tonight:
Did the dirt dog Depuy?
You know about the mass mailers and big time ad buys the PBA sank into sinking Depuy. What you don’t know is if it will work. This is the race with the most at stake tonight…either it’s the beginning of the end of a mainstay in Leon County Government, or it’s the beginning of the end of the relevance of PBA as a political entity in the North Florida region. Gut feeling? Don’t bet against Depuy.
Will Boulware cover the spread?
I was told by an aide to the Boulware campaign that Sutphin has already announced that he will be stopping by the Boulware party at Old Towne Café this evening to endorse Pete’s campaign in the general. How’s that for optimism? If I were a betting man, which I’m not (one of the few vices I have yet to acquire) I would put the over/under for margin of victory at 50 points. And I would take the over.
What’s the magic number in Gadsden County?
With seven candidates in the race, it’s anyone’s guess who walks away with it, though the Chamber has been supporting Alan Williams. I’m more interested to see what percentage takes it…as in, will less than 20% of the vote win you a state house? My guess would be yes.
How much will I embarrass myself with my poor table manners, excessive drinking and attempt to worm my way into important conversations?
Well we already know the answer to that, don’t we. (lowers head) But how bad will it get? Only time will tell. Speaking of, we’re almost ready for the unveiling of the initial results. Keep refreshing the page throughout the night, as I hope to update this thing four times an hour or so with the latest numbers, rumors, gossip or embarrassing anecdote. It's sure to be a good time, so keep checking back.
7:30 update
It’s just after 7pm and the conference table in the Chamber building is full. We’ve got political consultants, lobbyists, bankers and all around ballers. I’m totally fitting in.
These people are pouring over results from all over the state in the 40 House races, five senate races and six us congressional primaries. Meanwhile, Ion Sancho has yet to load any election results up on his website. Maybe that’s because he was with other Election office employees as they ferried ballots to flood victims by way of ATV. Really. Add in the time it takes to do the obligatory interviews while you’re heroically upholding the basic tenants of democracy in Leon County, and its perhaps understandable why he hasn’t gotten any actual results in a full half hour after the polls have closed.
7:45 Update
| Co Comm AtLg Grp1 | Totals |
| S. Akin Akinyemi | 7684 | (35.42%) |
| C.E. ''ED'' Depuy, Jr. | 9060 | (41.76%) |
| Alma Gonzalez | 4952 | (22.82%) |
| Total Votes Cast = | 21696 |
If this keeps up, Commissioner DePuy is in for a tough battle in November. Other early results of note:
| Sch Board Dist 4 | Totals |
| Jon Conley | 508 | (12.46%) |
| Jose Lorenzo | 502 | (12.32%) |
| Rosa L. Lovett | 448 | (10.99%) |
| Dee Dee Rasmussen | 2072 | (50.83%) |
| Floyd Self | 546 | (13.40%) |
| Total Votes Cast = | 4076 |
| County Judge Grp 5 | Totals |
| Nina A. Richardson | 10142 | (50.04%) |
| Sean Desmond | 5844 | (28.83%) |
| Leonard Holton | 4282 | (21.13%) |
| Total Votes Cast = | 20268 |
I have to say I am surprised at the initial margins in both of these races. Nina Richardson didn't get the endorsement of the Tallahassee Democrat, but so far it looks like its her race t lose.
As for Rasmussen, anyone who can 50% of the vote in a five way field is an impressive feat.
As for the home town team,its not looking so good for the candidacy of Adam Babbington. With about half the votes in so far, its...
| STATE COMMITTEEMAN - R | Totals |
| Adam Babington | 980 | (20.30%) |
| Jeff Howell | 2608 | (54.02%) |
| Terry L. Kester | 1240 | (25.68%) |
| Total Votes Cast = | 4828 |
In truth, this might be a good thing. With the amount of money and time Jeff Howell has spent on this race, Babbington might have been facing a Single White Republican type of situation on his hands if he had actually won.
8:15 Update
Election history was made tonight when, for a period of about five minutes, Peter Boulware had accomplished the unimaginable feat of securing 169% of the vote, according to the official numbers from the Leon County website. And that was with Jerry Sutphin was getting some 30 something percent. Talk about a mandate.
The story here remains Depuy, who is running ahead of Akinyemi, but not by enough
| Co Comm AtLg Grp1 | Totals |
| S. Akin Akinyemi | 10869 | (33.91%) |
| C.E. ''ED'' Depuy, Jr. | 13570 | (42.34%) |
| Alma Gonzalez | 7612 | (23.75%) |
| Total Votes Cast = | 32051 |
I have no way of knowing for sure, but if Ion Sancho's projection of 40% voter turnout proves to be correct, and we have 140,000 registered voters in the county, it looks like we're about halfway home in this thing, which makes it incredibly difficult for Depuy t make up the 8 points he needs to win tonight.
As for some of the other questions from the top...Boulware looks like a sure bet to cover, I have eaten two plates of food, and have managed to offend only one or two f the important people congregating here this evening.
But the night is still young, and there's a whole bottle of Knob Creek over there waiting on me
9:23 Update
I left the Chamber headquarters and headed out to Andrews for the Akinyemi and Nina Richardson parties. From there I headed up to the County Courthouse where you, Joe Citizen, can actually come hang out and watch the results come in. Pretty cool. So far there are precisely zero citizens participating in the process, but its neat to know that you could, if you wanted.
Or maybe its an outrage that your tax dollars are used to such superfluous excercises in democratic engagement.
Am I hosting a wildly popular trivia night or filming Pulp Fiction 2? From this picture its tough to tell.
As I mentioned, I had the opportunity to skate with the Tallahassee Roller Girls this past weekend, partly to get them prepared for their big bout this weekend against the Texas Hustlers, but also to put my own masculinity to the test. You might ask, what the hell kind of masculinity test is it to skate against a bunch of girls? My answer: The best kind.
I still promise to get a full fledged photo gallery up, but I had no way of knowing there would be so much happening this week. As one of the Tallahassee Rollergirls named Charles emailed me earlier :
"
It sucks you are going out of town. We would love to have you at the bout. maybe we should try to convince Preston to come out :-)
I was going to call in with my BEEF and say that the lack of timely updates of your blog was bugging me. Then i realized that it is a real Busy week for local politics (maybe i should study up for Trivia on Monday). I mean the Lincoln scandal and the Depuy ethics thing... and Damn those Mosquitoes.
PS... Yes you are a Soccer Snob!"
So even the TRG crew recognizes how newsy of a week its been. (Yeah I just made up that phrase. let's all try and use it and see if it sticks...kind of like Colbert's "Truthiness" or Paris Hilton's "That's Hot" or Howard Dean's "Hyeaeeahaha!"
Anyway, I've been busy. Right Howard?
"Hyeahahahah"
Cool. So in the meantime, here are a few of the pictures from last Sunday, with the hopes that their mere presence on this website will help further engender positive goodwill towards my girls with Capital Punishment. And yes, that's the only form of Capital Punishment I support. Guess that makes me a "crazy liberal".
If you're gonna roll around, you gotta wear protection. I am nothing if not a safe skater.
Good thing too, cause it had been like two years since my ass was on some skates. Check out my textbook form. And by "textbook", I mean "comically unstable".
I also had the "opportunity" to participate in the exercises that the girls do on a regular basis to train for their bouts. That girl to my right is some sort of computer person for DEP during the day. But at night, she's hell on wheels. She's like some sort of hybrid...part bureaucrat, part derby demon. It's really quite remarkable.
Of course this is what it's all about...letting a girl try and knock you around, then realizing that she can't and feeling good about it, then realizing that you outweigh her by a good 50 pounds, then feeling not so good about it. What's even worse, the girls are all tough and cool, so nobody would even go bulimia buddy with me afterwards as I struggled to come to terms with my newfound body image problem.
Anyway, more pics next week. Good luck girls! Kick some Texas tail, and thanks again for showing me how tough skating can be, and also for teaching me where my "gag" spot is.
Ed Depuy has called a press conference for 3pm this afternoon for a "big" announcement. I called Ed to press him for details, and a somber sounding DePuy said "I would be sorry" if I missed it. Is he dropping out? Declaring war on the PBA? I'll post more as soon as I get back from the presser.
Gut feeling: He's trying to head off a new PBA attack at the pass by talking about the new charges that he owned land in what became Centerville Farms in 2006 and voted on the development in 2007 without disclosing his financial interests, which has prompted yet another ethics complaint to be filed (allegedly today). But what's he going to say?
I've got a fever...
For the past week, I have been feeling a little under the weather. Maybe you could tell by the fact that my voice on the air was about a 9 on the nasal scale, instead of its usual 7. I think it has something to do with the side AC unit in my new place, and the fact that I sleep right next to it so either I am breathing in dusty AC air or I’m not doing enough to protect my person from the cold air that pours onto me nonstop throughout the night. Somewhere my mother is screaming “Just put a shirt and socks on!”
The point is that, despite whatever cold-like symptoms I may be experiencing, I have been bitten by a decidedly different type of bug over the last week or so as well. Yes, loyal readers, your infrequent updater has been hit with a hearty dose of Election Fever. I think it started over a week ago when my girlfriend and I were walking around the Railroad Square Art Park for First Friday and a few of the candidates were walking around asking for support. It continued last week when we really started doing some interviews with all of the candidates for School Board and Florida’s 2nd District for the US House. Then I went to the Leon County Black Democratic Caucus debate just so I could get some more of that old fashioned politicking I seem to love so much.
I think its fair to say that I’m into it. And if I wasn’t somewhat physically subdued from my other ailments, I would be out there voting today. As someone who has paid as much attention to it as I have, I naturally have an opinion or twelve, and am also eager and willing to share that opinion with anyone who wants to know. So with that in mind I will be putting together the first ever (and probably last) Eric Eggers Voting Guide to help out those of you who haven’t had the time, inclination, or the misfortune to give much of a damn about the upcoming election season.
However, lest anyone lend me too much credibility (and there’s very little chance of that happening, I realize) I will also be writing about my need to let the Tallahassee Roller Girls beat up on me, and why I subjected myself to the physical rigors of their practice. And I leave it up to you top draw any comparisons between a group of people who complete difficult offensive and defensive maneuvers while balancing on a very unstable foundation and wearing things that showcase their, um, assets, and the Tallahassee Roller Girls.
© 2008