November 15, 2006 - Now that the election's over, what's it all mean? I'll try not to hit stuff covered by others elsewhere, even though many of them are wrong.

1. Pollsters avoided the many and varied new obstacles to the art and were generally right on. Smart pundits average them, ala Realpolitics.com, the new primo political information source in the country.

2. There are far more competitive districts - and states - than claimed. Red-Blue was mostly BS from the beginning. Somebody please explain this to that judge up in Phoenix deciding the state's redistricting from 2000.

3. While there were tidal flows, individual campaigns still count. Some Democrat gains could've been stopped with better GOP campaigns - try George Allen. More Democrats would've won had they tried harder.

4. Both sides will over-react. Republicans will become more craven and Democrats will try to play down the expectations of their hard left, both thereby offending their respective bases.

5. Ann Coulter called the biggest winner Diebold because this is the first election it hasn't been accused of rigging for Republicans. Hopefully, those belching psychotic claims about past stolen elections will now put a sock in it.

6. Voter ID didn't cause long lines nor did the many ballot props. Part of the reason was that half the vote is now cast "at home," causing inordinately long times to get results. Waiting until the polls are closed to start counting those ballots is justified because of claims someone might leak information unfairly influencing others. Another reason is those stuffing ballot boxes like to know how many they'll need after they see the election day results. The latter was quite common in the days when the rules were laid out.

7. Voter anomalies, such as overwhelmingly passing nasty and restrictive measures for illegal aliens while rejecting hardball anti-immigration candidates, prove once more that voting behavior is not consistent or even intelligible and at times downright schizoid.

8. The Libertarian Party once again proved it's total irrelevancy. Libertarian candidates ranged from total nutters like Ernie Hancock and Richard Mack to intelligent spokespeople like CD8 candidate and my old friend David Nolan. Nolan was well treated by the media and allowed to be part of most debates.

In 1976, the first year the LP was on the ballot, the candidate in then CD2 consisting mostly of what are now CD's 7 and 8 got about 2 percent of the vote. Thirty years later, so did Nolan.

There's a message there. I got it about 20 years ago and went back to the GOP.

As Heinlein's Lazarus Long reminds us, there comes a time when you might have to shoot your own dog. Dave, even though the national LP was formed in your living room, it's time to pull the trigger.

9. Conservatives didn't lose as badly as Republicans. Democrats proved you don't need an agenda to win, or at least one you're willing to talk about. Time will tell if the Democrats have abandoned issues like gun control or were just smart enough to shut up about them.

10. Finally, District 26 which I misread. The two conservative primary victories for Al Melvin and Dave Jorgenson were short-lived with Jorgenson losing widely to both incumbent GOP liberal Pete Hershberger and Democrat Lena Saradnik. I asked Captain Al how he planned to get the RINO vote plus independents. He thought it wasn't needed. Their joint Phoenix consultant, Constantin Querard, is clearly guilty of malpractice.

There was enough incompetence to go around. Democrats recruited non-voter Charlene Pesquiera, the GOP didn't tell anyone she had never voted until the end, and the media never looked. If more voters had known she never registered to vote until 2005, she would've lost.

The late, great Chris Limberis always checked. His colleagues at the Tucson Weekly should've done what Chris did on candidates every cycle. Likewise for the rest of the media, including the EXPLORER - and me.

Like them, I got used to having Chris do the hard stuff. Which is why he was known as the last of the real reporters.

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EMIL FRANZI

EMAIL FRANZI

BUT WATCH WHAT YOU SAY!

About Emil Franzi

Emil Franzi is the owner and host of "Inside Track" on KVOI - 690AM and KAPR - 930AM in Douglas. The program airs on Saturdays from 12 pm till 5 pm.

Franzi currently writes a weekly column for the EXPLORER (formerly the NORTHWEST EXPLORER). He filled the TUCSON WEEKLY with close to a million relevant words from 1993 to 2004 and was an OpEd regular with the Az Daily Star from 1994 to 1998. His writing has also appeared in PHOENIX Magazine, ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, and the late CITY MAGAZINE in Tucson.

But then, Franzi is an iconoclast.

This website is Franzi's baby, put together with work, faith, and a little help from his friends, like Tom Danehy, Joyce Downey and Mike Tully. The concept -- politics, books, humor, the Old West, movies, "Pet Talk" and letters -- is Emil's. This unique brew seems to work. This website averages more than a thousand "hits" a day and keeps growing.

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