The clerk's office put the precinct breakdowns online today. I was satisfied with my showing on Tuesday, but it occurred to me yesterday that there may have been something more there.
You see, Carey Murphy was at town hall on Tuesday night. Most of the other candidates sent someone, but he was there personally. In its report of the election, the Cape Cod Times noted that, "Putnam...got a little too close for comfort for Murphy." Why was Murphy so nervous?
The answer is in the precinct breakdowns.
As you can see in the chart above (click on the chart to see a bigger version), I came in first in Precinct 9, second in Precincts 3 and 4, tied with Murphy for second in Precinct 8 and came within nine votes of Murphy (and five of Flynn) in Precinct 7.
What does all this mean?
Someone once told me that you have to "win" a certain number of precincts in order to win the election. If we give each candidate a number according to how they placed in each precinct, and then total those numbers, the impact of the election can be seen in the chart below.
Like golf, the lowest score wins. And it's immediately obvious why Murphy may have been nervous.
Of course, none of this changes the fact that I lost, but it does explain why so many people have been so positive about how I did. It was pretty close.
By the way, the quote, "Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become," came from a fortune cookie. I'm not a big fan of fortune cookies (I'd rather have oatmeal raisin), but the fortunes can be inspirational.
As can the outcome of an election, even if I didn't win.
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