The year 2012 has significance for a couple of reasons. For starters, it’s the year the world ends. Ancient Mayans, if you weren’t aware, predicted the world would come to an end Dec. 21, 2012, at least according to the amateur archeaologists and tabloid editors who are experts in Mayan culture. (If true, you have to ask yourself if reading this column is how you really want to spend one of the last days of your life)
This year is also notable because it’s the year of a presidential election. Strident members of the GOP and Tea Party believe civilization if not the world will end Nov. 6, 2012, if President Obama is re-elected to another four-year term.
Locally, there’s no telling how some voters will react if Chula Vista Councilwoman Pamela Bensoussan is re-elected to her seat on the City Council. Judging by the numbers, winning her job back won’t be an easy task.
In the June election, Bensoussan came in second to her current rival Larry Breitfelder, winning 9,197 votes to his 10,019. Of course, there were four people in the race then so expect that each candidate will benefit from the field having narrowed.
It might also be worth noting that the primary election drew only 27,509 voters. But November ballots tend to attract more voters, especially in presidential elections.
For example, in 2008 when Bensoussan was first elected to office, 67,486 people cast their votes in the council election. That June only 24,386 people bothered to show up and vote.
Consider, too, that Bensoussan barely squeaked by her final opponent Russ Hall, taking in 33,618 votes to his 33,572 (that’s a difference of only 46 votes, or one slightly over-crowded high school classroom).
Breitfelder’s current run is his second in two years and though he lost handily in 2010 against current councilwoman Pat Aguilar, his margin of victory over Bensoussan four months ago was just 3 percent.
So what do all those numbers mean? Like 2012 they could mean everything. Somebody’s life as they know it could come to an end. Their world will change.
Or they can mean nothing. Numbers and trends and previous showings are good for statisticians and numerologists.
But for simple-minded people like me they’re nothing but ways of marking the way things happened.
But what happened then doesn’t always dictate what will happen tomorrow. There’s no way of knowing until we get there, be it Nov. 7 or Dec. 22, 2012. Either way it ought to be interesting.
