And in the end, it wasn't even close. Arnold won the election by an even wider margin than polls had predicted and even received more votes than Davis on the recall question, certainly a mandate indeed. Inauguration day is in November so by then, we'll see if he is able to create a respected administration right from the get-go with only one month of preparation and a state budget that will be due two months after he is sworn into office.

Clearly, Davis lost since he was unable to bring out the vote of Democratic strongholds in the unions and with minorities, both of which generally voted for Davis, but not by the wide margin Democrats usually garner from them. Davis had never lost an election in his 30 years with the state, a couple of which were come-from-behind wins, and that showed in his refusal to admit defeat until the bitter end.

Most were afraid of voter error due to punch-card ballots. Well, what does this tell you? George Schwartzman was just a simple businessman from Carlsbad who ran for governor and managed to get 9th place out of 135. How? His name is right next to Arnold Schwarzenegger's on the ballot. Other notables were Larry Flynt at 7th, Gary Coleman at 8th, Van Vo, the only Vietnamese on the ballot, at 15th, and comedian Gallagher at 16th. Georgy Russell and Brooke Adams, both of whom spoke at PS 179 at Cal, garnered less than 2,000 votes. In last place was Todd Richard Lewis, who received less than 200 votes out of more than 7 million votes counted. Well, there's still 2 million more to count right?

The propositions went down to defeat. Both had good ideas but bad ways to implement them. Ward Connerly, author of 54, hopes to rewrite the initiative and try again.