Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Long Run Ends
Wednesday
November 3, 2004
We gave it our best shot. But in yesterday's election, Bubba The Love Sponge lost to Jim Coats in the race for Sheriff of Pinellas County. To Sheriff Coats, I say congratulations.
But I'll tell you this, Bubba put up a strong fight. For someone who had no law enforcement experience to land more than 110,000 votes (nearly 30%) in the election speaks volumes about his sustained popularity in the area and his strong name recognition. I learned an incredible amount as Bubba's assistant campaign manager, most of all just how challenging and draining a campaign run is. I gained an all new respect for races even on the local level, not to mention on the regional, state or national level.
My left hand is bruised from where I missed on a few hammer swings while putting up signs. My body is all out of whack from being up at 2 AM yesterday morning to put up campaign signs at key locations in the northern part of the county (sorry to anyone I woke up with hammering at 3:30 AM -- I was just doing my job). And I feel physically sick, possibly because of Guavaween, but also probably in part from pushing myself so hard down the stretch run. The effort really does tax you physically.
What's next? Satellite radio. The Bubba The Love Sponge ® show is going to be back, and it will be via one of the two major carriers (XM or Sirius). I'm not sure which company we'll end up with, and the decision-making process is being handled by people besides me. But rest assured, the show will be back, and it will be fun to execute it as a show on a national level, versus one that catered to particular markets like it did when we were a syndicated show.
Regarding the presidential election, I was telling anyone who would listen that I believed it would be a 2-out-of-3 falls contest between Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida. And ultimately that was the case; in true pro wrestling style fashion, Kerry took the first fall in Pennsylvania (which the networks took forever to "call" for him, being extra-cautious after 2000), Bush captured the second with Florida (no hanging chads like four years ago), and then finally just before 1 AM, Fox News Channel projected Bush the winner in the third and deciding state, Ohio.
In my favorite election result, Brian Blair (of B. Brian Blair WWF fame) barely beat incumbent Hillsborough County Commissioner Bob Buckhorn. I'll say this: I was pulling VERY hard for Blair, and I don't like Buckhorn (not on a personal level, since I've never met him, but his politics don't sit well with me). Blair won by roughly 2,500 votes, and I'm thrilled about it. Blair is a common sense kind of guy, and he'll bring business sense to the Hillsborough County Commission...
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