After taking heat for weeks after the Guardian failed to endorse Carole Migden, I approach her party with a bit of trepidation, particularly after seeing her trail both Mark Leno and Joe Nation in early returns. She is speaking when I arrive, saying her thank yous. “Thank you, thank you, thank you San Francisco,” she closes. Afterward I see one of her most prominent supporters, Senator Darrell Steinberg, the incoming president pro tem, whom I know a little from my Sacramento days.
“She’s been a great legislator and whatever happens tonight, she has everything to be proud of. I’m happy to stand with her,” Steinberg tells me. I catch the latest district numbers on the screen: Leno 37.2%, Migden 30.6%, Nation 32.2%, with 3.4% of precincts reporting. Soon, I bump into the most powerful backer of Migden’s legislative career, former Senator John Burton. Feeling a need to be forthright, I introduce myself and say clearly that I’m from the Bay Guardian.
“The Guardian must be overjoyed. She carried their water for 20 years and they fucked her when she needed them,” Burton bellows, asking me to make sure to pass his words on to publisher Bruce Brugmann, which I’m now doing.
Carole is a bit more magnanimous. She greets me with a hug. I tell her I’m sorry we couldn’t be with her, poise my notebook, and ask how she’s feeling about tonight. “I feel great and I have an enthusiastic crowd and I’m very proud of my years of service,” she says, nods at me, and turns away.