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BERKELEY -- Incumbent Dona Spring cruised to victory Tuesday night in her race to retain her Berkeley City Council seat, easily defeating three challengers. Updated Nov. 6, 1:42 am
With nearly 87 percent of the votes counted, Spring had more than 800 votes more than her closest competitor for the central Berkeley district seat.
"I'm very hopeful," said Spring, a 10-year incumbent and one of the council's most ardent progressives, in an interview before the final votes were counted. "For me it feels good to earn 61 percent of the votes against three other candidates, especially considering the projections that so many people were not going to vote."
Bob Migdal, a Democrat considered by many to be a long-shot candidate, had 582 votes to Spring's 1,822. LA Wood, who ran as an independent but, like Spring, is a Green party member, gained 281 votes. David Freeman, a candidate-at-large, finished last with 66 votes.
In 1998 Spring crushed her opponent by a margin of nearly 2,500 votes, winning 80 percent of a challenging district that comprises downtown Berkeley and its outlying neighborhoods.
Earlier this week, Migdal conceded it would be a challenge to defeat Spring. Tuesday night's results proved just how difficult this could be. Migdal's basic civil campaign combined with backing from moderate incumbent mayor Shirley Dean was a tough sell in the progressive district.
"Obviously I got trounced," he said "I said I was going to lose, and Dona did better than I thought she was going to."
Wood partially placed blame on the slates, or traditional political groups. "I'm a little disappointed with the results," he said. "I wish the Berkeley community would choose for themselves."
Wood, however, did not cede all hope to cynicism. "I think I did get out there and imprint myself on the neighborhood and the community," he said. "I don't think this is my last election. "
A race muddled by accusations by all parties of negative and aggressive campaigning appears to have taken its toll on the candidates. "(The campaign) has been rough," Spring said last week. "I've never had to run against two negative campaigners. It's very fatiguing."
Many voters, however, said they knew little about the candidates and sometimes, nothing at all.
"I didn't hear much about any of these candidates until right before the election," said John Kauppinen, 49, pointing to a Bob Migdal poster on a nearby telephone pole.
The three candidates invested a good deal of time and funds into pamphlets and flyers distributed on doorknobs and light posts in an effort to make their names known throughout the district. Much of it, however, seems to have ended up in the trash -- unread.
Mather George, an anthropology graduate student at UC Berkeley, said much of the candidates' literature ended up in a pile in the corner of her apartment complex. "There's a mound of them in the recycle bin," she said. "You don't really know who [the candidates] are unless they trap you in a corner."
In spite of early expectations the race would present tough choices for the candidates, some voters opted to not make one at all. Catherine Clark, a 19-year-old UC Berkeley student, said she left her ballot blank. "I didn't vote for any of them -- they all seemed a little extreme for my politics," she said outside the polling booth at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center. "They all seemed a little eccentric, and I don't really like Dona Spring."
The campaign took its toll on all the candidates. Each said they expected to win, but appeared eager to get on with their lives.
"I'll be happy when the election process is over because I'll have a chance to make a change," Wood said last week. "Instead, I'm waiting to be elected before I can make a change."
Migdal conceded that winning the election was going to be a struggle." The reality is that it's very difficult to unseat a 10-year incumbent," he said. "It would be an upset if I won."