6 DEC 06: SUBER GETS POPPED

The votes were counted Tuesday night from the Georgia runoff election. It cost the state more than one million dollars, and some precincts across the state reported more poll workers than voters. So those of you who voted for the Libertarian in the Public Service Commission race should be proud of all the state money you saved.

Final unofficial totals from the Columbus Council runoff election show Jerry "Pops" Barnes unseated incumbent Nathan Suber, by 1,253 - 982. This will allow Suber more time to handle.... hey, wait a minute! Whatever happened to the arrest of his daughter?

Jerry Barnes told WXTX "News at Ten" the results clearly show "the voters want change." We'll see if he says the same thing about a year from now - or if he's asking Columbus voters to give up some change, for a city sales tax.

But WRBL's "Nightwatch" revealed Nathan Suber has NOT conceded the District 1 race yet. He says it's not over until the final vote count is released on Friday. Of course, few people still will care when that happens....

Nathan Suber bought TV and radio commercial time in the two weeks before the runoff, noting his 12 years of experience on Columbus Council. If Jerry Barnes bought any commercial time, I never heard the ads -- so maybe he'll be more financially savvy than some people think.

Tuesday's Ledger-Enquirer noted Jerry Barnes has been standing along Buena Vista Road in recent days, waving at drivers in hopes of getting their votes. Roadside waving apparently is a Columbus election tradition - but I wouldn't recommend anyone do it along J.R. Allen Parkway.

In District 5, Mike Baker unofficially beat Tony Gaskins 924-806. We say "unofficially" because provisional votes won't be figured in until Friday. We'll see if there are more provisional voters than provisional drivers in a NASCAR race.

Mike Baker was endorsed by outgoing Councilor Jack Rodgers, whom he's replacing. Tony Gaskins was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police. The runoff results apparently mean District 5 voters would rather have an accountant, who can count how many officers short the department really is.

So what's the final score from the noisy public safety campaign to throw out Columbus city officials? Two incumbents were voted out, with one retiring. But of the three candidates endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, only Jim Wetherington was elected. So the voters want tough law enforcement - but maybe not in their own neighborhood.

WRBL noted one other regional runoff race. Ginger Hall Swint won a seat on the Marion County Board of Education. I think she had an unfair advantage - because interest in ginger tends to go up in December.

For the first time in a long while, we were able to have a "Blogger's Night Out" for an election. So we decided to go to the Government Center, and watch the returns came in....

8:00 p.m.: We arrive at the secure Government Center entrance, on the south side of the building. The main entrance seems locked and lacking guards - but a state prison inmate (wearing a uniform which says so) sees us and lets us in. What does this say about homeland security?

We walk to the west wing of the Government Center, where a long line of people stand in a foyer to turn in voting materials. The crowd there might exceed the number of advance voters last week.

Election workers roll large cases down the hall to the Election Board office. They have tiny numbers on the side - so tiny that they absolutely would NOT work on "Deal or No Deal."

On some election nights, the Election Board has a room set aside for poll-watching -- complete with a snack table. For this runoff, there are merely chairs in a hallway. My decision to bring a "Go-Tart" bar makes me look like a stinkin' genius.

A TV station's crew is waiting in a hallway - and so is a group which includes Mayor-Elect Wetherington and his wife, Police Chief Boren and Councilor Glenn Davis. They seem to be talking precinct numbers. None seem to be asking Davis if Atlanta should try to sign pitcher Barry Zito.

The first two precincts in District 1 report, showing Jerry Barnes and Nathan Suber only one vote apart. The candidates are about as close as they sat from each other at some political forums.

The early returns also show Republican Chuck Eaton leading the Muscogee County vote for Georgia Public Service Commissioner. At the end of the night, Democrat David Burgess has about 64 percent locally - but Eaton wins the statewide race. So much for Atmos Energy natural gas bills staying low.

8:20 p.m.: "Big Chief" Wetherington stops for a moment to chat with media row. "Did I miss anything at City Council tonight?" we ask.

"Nothing," the Mayor-Elect says shaking his head. "You missed Paul Olson." I think that was supposed to be his punch line.

Elections Board Director/Police Chief's wife Nancy Boren carries a large plastic basket down the hallway, marked "St. John AME." I'm assuming the basket has voting materials inside - because churches like that usually use buckets for the offering.

Someone else carries a long paper receipt into the Election Board office, apparently with the absentee vote count. "He's carrying it gingerly," Mayor-Elect Wetherington says. The better not to smear the numbers, sir....

8:30 p.m.: The Mayor-Elect and his wife bid everyone in the hallway a good evening. Either they're heading for the victory parties of the Council winners, or their bedtime is earlier than even I expected.

8:35 p.m.: A tall, thin man wearing a "Government Center Security" uniform is walking around the Election Board area, making sure everything is OK. We didn't know the Government Center had a separate security patrol - and we wonder which city department will claim it, in Jim Wetherington's upcoming budget plan.

The TV news crew left right after Jim Wetherington did, apparently certain of how the races would turn out. So we wander to the end of the now-empty Election Board hallway - and find a rack with several brochures about farming. Did Tommy Irvin order every county in Georgia to display this?

8:42 p.m.: Election materials showing "Precinct 29" are brought in by two deputy sheriffs. Nancy Boren tells me the poll worker who was supposed to deliver them was in a car wreck on Macon Road. She also tells aides the car was left "undriveable." Sometimes being "first, fast and accurate" also can be risky.

8:52 p.m.: Nancy Boren hands me a sheet of paper with the final unofficial results. No other media people are there -- so in this race, I'm running unopposed.

With final numbers out before 9:00 p.m., that didn't take the Election Board long at all. Not compared with other election nights, when the final total was released well after 11:00. You don't think the men on the staff wanted to hurry home to watch the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, do you?

Nancy Boren isn't sure who I am - and when I tell her, she admits she's a reader of our blog. This provides the opportunity to ask a vital question, and settle an issue which has been lingering here for months.

"It's RICKY," she assures me. "R-I-C-K-Y. It's not E-Y." And it's not Rick, either. For once, I'll disclose this source -- and if anyone is a "source close to the police chief," she should be.

THE BIG BLOG QUESTION has resurfaced, asking about the next big showdown in Columbus. Will Carver or Shaw win the high school football semifinal Friday morning? This poll should be about as fair and ethical as the ones which put Florida in the college football championship game.

WRBL reported Tuesday because the Carver-Shaw game will kick off at 9:00 a.m. Friday, pep buses from both schools will leave Columbus for the Georgia Dome at 5:00 a.m. If that seems ridiculously early, keep one thing in mind - they'll have to fight Atlanta rush-hour traffic.

Oh yes -- as you vote, please ignore the fact that our last Big Blog Question indicated Bob Poydasheff was ahead of Jim Wetherington in the Columbus mayor's race. We don't believe in that stuff about a blogger's curse.

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: We're planning live real-time blogging of the Carver-Shaw game, right here Friday morning.)

Let's rest a bit from the hype, and check other news from Runoff Day:

+ Columbus Regional and St. Francis Hospital announced they will consolidate their mental health programs. If this doesn't help people with bipolar disorder, I don't know what will....

+ The manager of JC Penney at Peachtree Mall predicted his business will increase, once Parisian closes at the end of the month. One store will have a "white sale." The other may have a "white flag of surrender" sale.

+ The Phenix City Council changed its mind about giving the next mayor a raise to $50,000. The change came when the council decided NOT to expand the mayor's duties. That logic doesn't seem to work in major league baseball....

+ The Phenix City Council also voted to change trash collection companies. Sunflower Waste of Tallassee will cost the city less than Waste Management Inc., which has a stock ticker symbol of WMI. So Phenix City followed the game show principle -- big money, no WMI's.

(Councilor John Storey said he's heard from other cities that Sunflower Waste is not responsive to complaints. But Mayor Jeff Hardin contends past issues have now been resolved -- so are they buried at the landfill, or sitting in a recycle bin?)

+ Auburn Police reported a weekend break-in at a house left a $250,000 19^th-century grand piano damaged. This probably shouldn't surprise us. If the burglars cared about keys, they wouldn't have broken in to begin with.

+ Federal Express delivered 700 trees to Fort Benning, in the "Trees for Troops" program. How many Third Brigade soldiers will suggest taking the trees with them to Iraq next year, to serve as battering rams?

SCHEDULED THURSDAY: Is a TV commercial pitchman telling the truth about his life? Maybe not....

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