And the 2012 winners are . . .

November 6, 2012

Here we are, live in CalCoastNews Election Central, waiting for the first returns to be posted. Check with us throughout the evening as we report on the results from today’s election.

And feel free to add comments as we go along. We want to make this as interactive as possible. Glad to have you along.

5:30  Why vote by mail when you can vote by email? Super storm Sandy leads to online voting in New Jersey. Storm victims have until 8 p.m. Friday to press send.

5:45 Shocker: Obama takes Illinois. CNN makes the projection.

5:53 First electoral update — Romney: 82 Obama: 79

6:05 Obama wins… in hoops. The president teams up with ultimate Chicago sidekick Scottie Pippen to cruise to victory in an Election Day basketball game. Shooting stats still pending.

6:12 Romney: 88 Obama: 79. AP reporting Obama has concession speech ready. Also has victory speech prepared.

6:16 Romney: 154 Obama: 124. Much of The South called.

6:19 Florida — 62 percent reporting — Romney: 49.6 Obama: 49.5

6:30 Ninety minutes left to vote: Lois vs. Abel, Jerry Brown vs. Howard Jarvis, Jerry vs. Molly, to label or not to label? Katcho to keep his seat? Monning moving up? Mayoral and council seats to fill — results to begin trickling in shortly after 8.

6:33 Romney: 154 Obama: 144. Most of the Midwest reporting.

6:41 Revenge of the unions: Wisconsin given to Obama. CBS reports union households voted two to one in his favor. Obama takes overall lead 158 to 154.

6:58 NBC and CBS call Massachusetts Senate race: Dems grab back Kennedy seat. Elizabeth Warren unseats Scott Brown.

7:04 Tea Party takes Texas Senate seat. Ted Cruz replaces Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

7:20 Abel Maldonado draws comparison to Ronald Reagan… from Michael Reagan. “Like my father, Abel believes in looking beyond the ideological entrenchments that have bred a mentality of delay and inaction.” Apparently GOP 11th Commandment applies even to those who break no tax pledges and make deals with Dems.

7:27 163 to 163. 89 percent reporting in Florida — Obama: 49.9, Romney: 49.3

7:57 Romney takes North Carolina, but Obama maintains lead in Ohio and slight lead in Florida.

8:00 Julie Rodewald announces, “The polls are now closed.” Let the local tabulation begin…

8:08 Initial SLO County numbers — Maldonado 50.44, Capps 49.56

8:22 37 percent reporting: numbers coming in…

8:27 Jan Marx is up huge in SLO. The mayor of Happy Town must be very happy with the initial tally — Marx: 65.51, Barasch: 28.80, Hedrick: 5.3.

8:31 San Luis Obispo early voters like their incumbents. Carpenter and Ashbaugh join Marx in the sizable lead column. Carpenter checks in at 34.28 percent, followed by Ashbaugh at 32.34 percent. Aranguena and Rice trailing at 17.15 and 13.57 respectively.

8:34 Prop 30 is as tight in SLO County as Capps-Maldonado. 50.72 percent against and 49.28 percent for in first report.

8:36 County Supervisor Adam Hill is sporting a slick leather jacket as he takes in the election results in the County Government Center. Does his big smile have anything to do with the mayor of SLO’s large lead?

8:38 Recent opponent of Hill, Ed Waage, now faces reelection in Pismo Beach. Waage leads the council race at 31.24 percent. Erik Howell is a solid second, followed by Blake, White and Kreowski.

8:42 Some Paso Robles citizens want change now. They may get new councilmembers, but a new mayor is not as likely. Duane Picanco has 85.2 percent of the initial tally, while all write-ins (Gary Nemeth included) total 14.8 percent. But, the incumbents trail in a tight council race. Steve Martin leads, followed by Jim Reed, Fred Strong and Nick Gilman — all within six percent.

8:55 Grover Beach councilwoman Debbie Peterson is well on her way to becoming mayor. She leads Phyllis Molnar 75.96 percent to 23.62 percent. Incumbent Karen Bright leads in the council race at 30.5 percent, followed by Jeff Lee at 23.67 percent. Liz White and Louis Robles each have a little over 16 percent of the vote, and Anita Shower trails at 13 percent.

9:04 It’s Obama by the way. Neither tears, nor concession speech expected.

9:09 Early voters in SLO County are not too enthused about mandatory GMO labeling. Prop 37 is down 57.31 percent to 42.69.

9:22 Overall Capps-Maldonado — 7.2 percent reporting — Capps: 52.1, Maldonado 47.9

9:31 Statewide (17 percent reporting): Prop 30 down 51.8 to 48.2, 37 down 57.6 to 42.4

9:37 Katcho is hanging out at his old stomping grounds. Little need for concern about the vote count, as the former supervisor leads Manata 64.1 to 35.9 in his bid for reelection to the assembly. “There is little difference from the primary,” Katcho astutely notes.

9:44 Katcho: “I gotta go hit the sack.” Before he leaves, he thanks Manata for helping him raise money.

10:07 It appears Dianne Feinstein will celebrate her 85th birthday while still in office. Voter seem to agree with the L.A. Times that the Democratic senator is “entrenched” but “effective” — Feinstein: 57.4, Emken 42.6 in statewide report (19 percent).

10:11 It may be too early for Capps to party, but the nicest woman in Washington is hanging out at El Paseo and State Street in Santa Barbara. She surely welcomes thirsty constituents.

10:24 The last batch of ballots just arrived in to the county gov. center. None traveled by email. One fifth of county precincts are now reporting and 40.65 percent of ballots have been counted. The odds of finishing at the midnight target completion time  are about as high as Romney’s chances of becoming president (at least in 2013).

10:36 43.15 percent of ballots now counted. Barbara George holds a commanding in lead in bid to deal with Cuesta College’s problems — George: 63.94, David Baldwin 35.78.

10:51 It has been a rough year for the homeless in San Luis Obispo. The challenged demographic will not gain any representation on the council. Homeless council candidate Matt Strzepek has currently received 2.54 percent of the vote. But, “residentially challenged” mayoral candidate Donald Hedrick has upped his total to 7.04 percent. Despite their legal loss at the hands of the homeless, all incumbents maintain sizable leads in SLO.

11:00 Capps’s lead has grown to nearly a 10 percent margin. Capps: 54.5, Maldonado: 45.5 (41.4 percent of precincts districtwide reporting)

11:10 Grover Beach may well become a charter city. 54 percent of voters have approved the measure with nearly half of precincts reporting. Karen Bright and Jeff Lee continue to lead the council race.

11:19 The popularity of Roseanne Barr is not exactly soaring in San Luis Obispo County.The not always so serious candidate for president has received just over one third of one percent of the countywide vote. Barr, along with peaceful running mate Cindy Sheehan, currently checks in at .34 percent. They represent the Peace and Freedom Party.

11:37 Prop 30 is now up — Yes: 51.6, No: 48.4 — with 43 percent of precincts reporting. A long way still to go on the propositions, but currently human trafficking penalties and three strikes law change are passing by large margins. Support for GMO labeling is now close to 45 percent (still failing though).

11:45 Capps’s leads swells to more than a 10 percent margin: 55.2 – 44.8. Celebrations on State Street?

11:54 Flashback: Roseanne Barr calls for a return of the guillotine as part of her presidential platform. San Luis Obispo County voters have not responded favorably to her plan to behead bankers. Barr remains at .34 percent in the county.

12:12 All county precincts are now reporting. Tallies are not final because late arriving vote by mail ballots are yet to be counted. Rodewald says they will be counted in the morning.

12:19 Grover charter measure couldn’t be much closer. Yes: 50.16 No: 49.84

12:23 The Paso Robles council race also remains tight — Martin: 27.81, Strong: 23.52, Reed: 23.21, Gilman: 22.16.

12:25 Shop is closing at the government center. Rodewald says final tallies should be in by 10 a.m.

1:16 72 percent of precincts are reporting statewide: Prop. 30 — Yes: 53, No: 47; Prop 37 — No: 53.9, Yes: 46.1

1:38 Only late arriving vote by mail ballots remain uncounted in the congressional race. Capps: 54.8, Maldonado: 45.2. Capps appears to be the big winner locally. Katcho will cruise to victory in his assembly reelection bid and current assemblyman Bill Monning will win the Central Coast’s new state senate seat. Jerry Brown has declared victory on Prop. 30 and Monsanto and crew seem to have sunken Prop. 37, but precincts still have not finished reporting across the state. Roseanne Barr collected thousands of votes nationwide. Good night/morning.