It's the most dismal campaign that I've ever seen. It's been one set of missteps and blunders after another.

It was one of the most bone-headed blunders ever seen in a high-profile federal case.

It has done some damage. She can't escape the bad news syndrome: She's always responding to bad news, can't get a positive message out there.

That may raise the obvious question of whether there's an insatiable appetite on the part of the county commission to raise as much money as they can at any point in time. Even if they can't spend it now, they can build up rainy-day funds, or they can bankroll for some major project down the line. I don't think there's going to be tremendous public support for that.

The business of government ought to be government, not business. I do think there's been too much of a blurring of the line between the proper role of business and the proper role of government.

It created an opportunity for alternative candidates to emerge to exploit this dissatisfaction. None of them won, but certainly the elections were hotly contested.