Anna Rendall reports:
At 10 p.m., Claudine Cheng was in high spirits despite that the polls indicated she was in fourth for District 3 supervisor. With 8 percent of the vote she was far behind David Chui, who currently leads with 38 percent, according to the San Francisco Department of Elections Web site.
Surrounded by local residents, family, friends and a great food spread, Cheng, former deputy attorney for the city and Treasure Island Development Authority President, pointed out that the real results won’t be in until Friday. Besides, there was plenty of cheering in the room for Barack Obama, who had just won the presidency.
However, Cheng’s campaign manager, Ryan Chamberlain, wasn’t so upbeat at the moment. He said that he knew a couple of weeks ago where her race for District 3 supervisor was headed.
“A few weeks ago it became a Joe Alioto versus David Chui race … not so much about what they were doing or what they were saying but because of the negativ[ity],” said Chamberlain. “ The left started beating up on Joe … the right started beating up on David. The name recognition was that you’re either on side or the other. When that happened I could tell we just started to get lost in the debate.”