Ken vs. Boris: It's So On

Whoa re the RA who have (had?) four seats in slough?

This is really hard to parse. WHOA, re: the RA... I'm assuming you meant 'who are' but I can't get around it.

At 1:10pm the word on the BBC website was that "22% of votes counted, Boris ahead in 10 regions, Ken ahead in 4." An hour later it's 9 vs 5.

So, at this rate, it's gonna take 'em 18 hours to count the votes (4:30am Saturday?) and, if Ken claws back one region an hour, he'll win by a landslide. Hope springs, etc.

acc R4: turnout in liverpool central <10%. i'm speechless on that one.

-- grimly fiendish, Friday, 2 May 2008 08:34

This is what happens when they're all the same

DJ laxalt

*twiddles thumbs*

Facebook status updates update:

Chris B******* thinks Ken should do 'a Mugabe'.
13 minutes ago

Terry S******* will kidnap phil collins if boris gets in.
26 minutes ago

Andrew F****** would like to point out that most of the glum reports of the mayoral election pertain to first preferences, and suggest that 2nd prefs may yet see Ken through.
52 minutes ago

Matt D'**** would like to politely inform London that it can suck a big bag of dicks.
57 minutes ago

Haha.

turnout at 45%, so even though this this has been the one and only london stroy for the past few months, over half the population still don't give a shit.

Current London running score: 27% total votes counted, Boris ahead in nine, Ken in five.

sorry to be a dummy but how does the winner actually get decided, is it outright vote total or something else?

Outright vote total including second preference votes of anyone but the lead two candidates if no one gets more than 50% of first preference votes.

D*** G***** is going to make a voodoo doll of Boris Johnson and stab it repeately in the arse, face, chest and if there's any left arse again.

It looks like it might be possible that Boris gets over 50%, negating all second preference votes.

turnout at 45%, so even though this this has been the one and only london stroy for the past few months, over half the population still don't give a shit.

still better than last time, which was only 37.5% turnout.

It looks like it might be possible that Boris gets over 50%, negating all second preference votes.

It doesn't negate the second preference votes it just means that they cannot put anyone else over 50%

Nah. If any candidate gets more than 50% first preference they become mayor.

For Boris to get 50%+, what with Paddick, Berry et al getting a decent 15-18% between them, it would mean Ken is 15-20pts behind. Not even the YouGov polls suggested that.

That comment above re. counting time - I thought - this looks like Steady Mike. And it was.

I'm actually glad this is being drawn out. Make them wait! Why not? Delay BJ for a day: that's one better day of our lives.

There was something in a paper yesterday about Ken's people destroying documents in the very brief interim period.

It reminds me a bit of the USA in 2000.

Pinefox, what happened in the White House changeover was a complete myth.

I dreamt that Paddick won!

Suzy, if you mean that there is a myth about people destroying US documents in 2000, I have never heard it.

I was simply referring to the deferral of the result, which (perhaps unlike many) I am finding I prefer to simply getting a bad result straight away.

I am reminded now of how Steady Mike was finding grounds for hope at that election, emailing me and giving me evidence of how the Florida count could go Gore's way, etc.

I wrote a song about it too, not long after.

I also remember the less controversial time in 2004 when John Edwards came out and told Democrats 'it's not over, let's wait till every vote is counted' - it was virtually the only thing I'd seen him do all campaign (but I doubtless just missed the rest).

There's a story in Thelondonpaper about Ken Livingstone and his aides being escorted from City Hall by security guards if he loses - to prevent documents being removed from the building.

d'ya remember when they tried to stuff the ballots so laura roslin would win instead of baltar?

Ohmigod Boris is going to stick us all in Cylon concentration camps and sign our death warrants.

Would like to sign Ken lead the resistance, lose an eye and then turn out to be a baddie, though.

it'll be quiet for the first 12 months...

But if Roslin had won, everyone would be dead!

there are only 12 Tory models

mrs fiendish seems able to laugh about this/adopt a dr c-esque pragmatism.

i'm just getting crosser and fucking crosser. i feel tonight's meal out with my parents might be explosive.

i mean. i don't live in london, plan ever to live in london, or even particularly like it. but still. GRR.

No, the 2001 myth was that the Clinton staffers removed all the Ws from keyboards before vacating, as disinfoed in thelondonpaper. Never happened.

Better dead than Cylon.

I am seriously tempted to tell any Tory people I meet over the weekend that Boris is canceling the congestion charge ASAP and they should just drive in to work on Monday FOR FREE!

You know there's no C-Charge (nor a lot of work) on bank holidays, right?

Oh yeah. Tuesday, then.

a text exchange that will hopefully go no further:

me, to my cousin: "i sincerely hope none of the votes for that tory buffoon is yours, or your baws are getting booted next time i see you"

my cousin: "all i'm going to say is that i didn't vote for the guy trying to charge me 25 quid a day to drive to work"

me: "i so want to believe you voted for brian paddick :("

(yes, we text in full like that, with punctuation and everything. we're well-brought-up young men.)

your cousin have a big car then?

he sells finance for very, very expensive motors and gets a new company car every six months.

last time i saw him, it was -- i shit you not -- one of those fucking awful porsche cayenne things. "they're taking them off the company-car list," he said, "so i just wanted to see what they're like."

answer: absolutely fucking abominable. what a shitmobile, in every way. even the driving position's pish, which surprised me.

you know how you can sometimes just turn a blind eye to the most appalling habits and behaviours of your friends and family? well, this is a case in point.

ah, another text!

him: "at least i didn't vote for the 'let's stop subsidising scotland' party. it actually exists!"

me: "a small mercy, i suppose"

So, are Tory supporters admitting (OK, pretty weak) dirty tricks live on the official Conservative Home homepage?:

My numb fingers delivered my last crumpled and damp 'Back Bozza' flyer through the letterbox below the green 'NO JUNK MAIL WHATSOEVER!' Sign (clearly a Tory voter). Inside the occupants were squeezed together on a warm sofa, beers in hand, cheering on Chelsea's European campaign.

Outside, Boris' loyal fans in Wandsworth were on the last leg of our own London final.

Despite the appalling weather, it had not been a bad evening's leafleting - 300 delivered, only two 'canvassed' properties with Vote Ken stickers in the window, one deranged dog, three scrapped knuckles from a medieval draft excluder and four Labour leaflets retrieved and 'recycled'.

Are you legally allowed to put leaflets through a letterbox where the householder requests no junk mail? And wouldn't taking the opposition's leaflets be considered as theft should the householder see it as such?

I'm grasping at straws, aren't I?

Yes

i sort of feel like if ken can't push the right levers - fraudulently or otherwise - to beat a cartoon character who was born in a top hat and tails, my faith in him as a "player" has been misplaced

He just needed to capture the "LOL OMFG!!!! KEN DONE A GUFF!!!! ROFL!!!!!!! THE MAN IS A LEGERND I TELL YOU LOL!!!!! I CARNT WAIT 2 SEE HIM RUNNING THE INTIRE CITTY!!! KEN 4 KING!!! LOL!!! LOL!!! LOLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!" voters.

i know someone who voted for paddick? wtf??????????????????

Paddick apparently intends to stand as an MP now, possibly capitalising on his captivating and career-making performance over mayoral elections.

John McDonnell on C4 news just said: 'I'm still hopeful that Ken will hang on, thanks to 2nd preference votes. ... but he'll hang on because he's Ken, not because he's Labour'.

I'm not saying this means he has a chance. I'm just recording what was said.

"After the worse results in 40 years it is intellectually unsustainable for ministers to simply tell the electorate that the government is listening. Prevarication will only lead to a Tory government - what people want is decisive action to change the policies immediately.

If Ken does hang on, it will be as a result of his perceived independence from New Labour and should not be interpreted by Gordon Brown as any vote of confidence in New Labour in London."

BBC R4 suggested that the result wouldn't be known till half midnight suggesting that it is close.

Guardian suggesting it isn't close.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/may/02/london08.london

let me believe a little while longer, although those turnout figures make me fear the worst.

With more than half the votes counted, figures released by the election organisers, London Elects, showed that that the MP for Henley was ahead of Ken Livingstone in eight of the 14 constituencies in the capital. Livingstone was ahead in the remaining six constituencies.

Bur if Johnson's won eight constituencies by 51% to 49%, and Ken's won six by 55% to 45%, doesn't that mean Ken has more votes? How the fuck does this work?

face it guys

http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/10/dawson-crying.jpg