That headline will always be one of my favorites. Back then in a world without the internet and information at the palm of your hand, it’s slightly understandable that a newspaper would make such a major error in a tough election. After all, with print deadlines to meet, reporters couldn’t accurately get election returns before an article about an election was due at the printer for the next morning’s paper. Of course, that blatantly wrong headline and article lives on infamy as the poster-child for not declaring victory too early. But once in a while, someone forgets and learns their lesson the hard way.
Fast forward to Tuesday, November 2, 2010. We were all watching that night when Steve Cooley declared early that he was elected the next Attorney General of California. At the time, the reported returns were looking in his favor, but it was quite odd that he would declare victory so early. The Secretary of State website was crashing and slow at posting updated returns. Some of the counties where Cooley polled the poorest hadn’t even reported their numbers from a single precinct. He even admitted in his speech that some of his top advisors said it was far too early to declare victory. But Cooley was convinced. At a period of time when the rest of his Republican friends statewide were starting to see more and more unfavorable returns and races for the U.S. Senate and the Governorship had been called for Democrats Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown, Cooley wanted to rally the Republican base in California in the same way that the rest of the country was rallying around the red wave.
The problem? He should have listened to his advisors. His opponent, CLCV-endorsed candidate Kamala Harris never conceded. She was also smart enough not declare victory. It was just too close to call. In fact, by the time all the precincts had reported in, she was ahead of Cooley by almost 15,000 votes -and yet there were still millions of absentee and provisional ballots left to be counted.
We knew a winner would be declared by November 30th, but today Cooley conceded early. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris still has not declared victory and won’t until all the votes have been cast:
So some more good news for the environment just in time for that day in the year when you think about everything you’re grateful for.
My advice for Mr. Cooley in the future? The next time all of those expensive advisers you pay for tell you that it’s too early to declare victory, listen to them. You may find yourself sitting at your Thanksgiving table eating turkey instead of crow.
