With 21 of 32 precincts counted, voters in the diverse District 2, which spreads into Chinatown, Lake Merritt, and East Oakland, were leaning toward the incumbent, Kernighan. Just before midnight, Kernighan had received 55 percent of the vote to Allison’s 44 percent.

The polling place in the Prudential Realty office on 3320 Grand Avenue had a line for the last hour it was open. “I voted for Kernighan,” said Elizabeth Clayton, a Mills College undergraduate who said she had recently moved back to District 2, where she grew up. “I decided she has done a lot of things for this neighborhood.”

Kernighan and Allison have expressed similar goals for Oakland during the occasionally angry campaigning of recent weeks. Both say they want Oakland to be a safer city that offers affordable housing, good schools, and youth programs. The two women have squared off against each other before, first in May of 2005 when Danny Wan stepped down from the City Council to accept a job with the Port of Oakland. The race went to a runoff, and Kernighan defeated Allison in June’s primary election.

Allison, a Persian Gulf War veteran who received an honorable discharge and conscientious objector status, served as a medic in the Army Reserve. She has the support of Oakland City Council member Nancy Nadel. She has also been endorsed by the California State Council of the Service Employees International Union and the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance. Before entering politics she was a small business consultant who specialized in working with nonprofits. She has charged in her campaigning that the Oakland city government is not making changes quickly enough, and has squandered its chance to force developers to foot the bill for affordable housing during the recent housing boom.

“I will fight for better management of our resources and tax dollars so that we can effectively provide for our families, reduce the violence, and support our schools,” Allison said on her Web site. She has been particularly critical of Kernighan’s support from developer Ed De Silva, the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the Oakland Political Action Committee. Representatives of Allison’s campaign assert that OakPAC, the political arm of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, is a pro-developer special interest group.

“Let’s be clear at every level of government, the kind of priority we should have is … for children and families,” Allison said at a campaign event before screening the film “Iraq for Sale.” “It gets confused if corporate dollars are in the mix.”

Kernighan, an attorney, spent four years as chief of staff to District 2 Councilman Danny Wan before winning the seat last June. Kernighan has been endorsed by Senator Barbara Boxer, California Assemblywoman Wilma Chan and David Kakishiba, the Oakland Board of Education president, who ran against her in the May 2005 special election for the District 2 seat.

Kernighan has worked to refurbish blighted land around Lake Merritt and create Splash Pad Park, now the site of a farmers’ market that draws families and children. She has spoken to voters about her efforts to clean up the streets and attract retail establishments like Trader Joe’s, which will soon have a location on Lakeshore Ave.

Kernighan has defended her record on crime, responding to Allison’s call for crime prevention measures like after-school programs and anti-recidivism programs for ex-convicts returning to the neighborhood. Voters who say she’s not working hard enough on crime prevention “have been misinformed,” Kernighan said.

“The violence prevention programs that my opponent is recommending are essentially a carbon copy of what I and the other City Council members have already designed and approved,” Kernighan said at a Democratic rally the Monday before Election Day. “There is not one thing in her crime platform that is not already happening. Crime is the result of 20 or 30 years, a legacy of societal issues, not something that responds every six months to policy change on the City Council.”

Both candidates have campaigned particularly hard during closing weeks. In October, Allison’s campaign charged that corporate funds were buying the City Council seat for Kernighan after a judge ruled that despite objections raised under campaign finance laws, OakPAC could donate money for Kernighan campaign materials. Amid the controversy, Mayor-elect Ron Dellums asked OakPAC to withdraw its donation, and Kernighan never received the funds.

“I did not ask for help from OakPAC, and I don't need it,” Kernighan told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I'm annoyed it's become an issue.”

Kernighan and Allison have both been walking the precincts of District 2 daily, asking residents for their votes.

“I respect both the candidates,” said Amy Corbin, owner of the Prism Café, on Park Blvd in District 2. “Pat has been really helpful to our business in getting started. We needed a lot of help getting permits and navigating the city bureaucracy.”

Although it wasn’t an easy choice, Corbin said, she has decided to vote for Kernighan. “I agree with Aimee Allison’s political positions,” said Corbin, who also lives in District 2. “I think she would do a great job on the City Council. But I feel like Pat has had one or two years where she’s shown some concrete results. She’s shown her willingness to listen to what people who live in the neighborhood want. Maybe she doesn’t think as much about national political issues, but what she does for the local area is really valuable. That’s what my decision is based on.”