Results

So the lesson learned from reading online municipal election results is that it is also not all that good for my health either. Oh sure, there was some small pleasures, like see Ron Ellsworth lose and Keith Coombs lose. That gave me momentary pleasure. But then again, Simon Lono lost as well.

And that kind of sucks, but I wasn't shocked by it. A lot of people don't like Simon. And it's not because he's not smart, filled to the brim with good ideas and would make an excellent voice on council. No, it's because he's a Liberal. And in Newfoundland, and especially in St. John's, that's a condemnable offence with certain people. So I knew it was going to be an uphill battle.

Still, he polled respectably. If people in St. John's had more sense they certainly could have punted Gerry Colbert off council and the world would be a no poorer place. The moment I knew Colbert was just bloody coasting on his name recognition to get him re-elected? When I read this questionnaire by the Scope. The one where Colbert couldn't be bothered to submit answers to it. If that's not the height of laziness and an indication of what kind of councillor you're going to get, I don't know what is.

But no, what really set the old blood pressure off was the Clarenville race. It's no secret that I don't like Mayor Fred Best. And the race see-sawed back and forth all evening. But with challenger Lisa Browne up by 20 votes with one poll left, I thought she had it. But then, unbelievably, he pulled off 88 more votes than Browne in the last poll to win 1225-1157.

And honestly, when you read his preliminary comments after winning - "Lisa made a good showing, but the people spoke," said Best following the final count. "I got into this late - I only had a three-week campaign while Lisa had a three-year campaign." - how can you not want to smack him....repeatedly.

I actually had to go and walk around the apartment for a few minutes. If I had sat down to blog about this last night, there would have been a pounding on the door this morning around 6 am from some nice men in uniforms. The conversation probably would have went something like this.

"Sir, did you write online last night that you wanted everyone in Clarenville dead to prevent their cracked gene pool from spreading to neighbouring communities and thereby infecting them with their stupidity and that the whole town should be burned to the ground and the ashes and rubble pushed into Trinity Bay?"

"Er, I might have. I was pretty upset last night when Fred Best won again, meaning the people of Clarenville will have had that unbelievable git as mayor for 31 years in a row, when all is said and done."

"Yeah, you need to come with us now."

(Trust me, that's the deeply edited version of what would have run last night)

Candidates have to be graceful. Candidates have to say things like "The people have spoken and they know best." Whereas I can be slightly more bitter and say the people are, just as often as not, morons.

This to shall pass. Thank God I left Clarenville when I did, though. If I was still living there I'd be looking for sharp objects this morning.

Last Five
1. Sick muse - Metric
2. The hill - Marketa Irglova
3. Dancing choose - TV on the Radio
4. Neon tiger - The Killers
5. The future is X-rated - Matthew Good Band*