Rankin, White face runoff

Published Thursday, March 6, 2008

By Mandy Bourgeois

The four-person race for Precinct 1 county commissioner remained exciting throughout Tuesday night for incumbent Robert Rankin and Danny White. At one point, only one voted separated the two, until White pulled away late in the evening with 591 votes to Rankin's 517.

The two will battle again in a run-off election Tuesday, April 8.

"I'll go ahead and stay with it and see if I can win this thing," Rankin said.

"This was what we hoped for," White said after the final votes were tallied. "I would like to thank those who supported and voted for me. We'll be right here again in April."

White was close to the action, hosting a watch party in a recreational vehicle parked within sight of the courthouse.

"We're having a good time," White said midway through the night, standing in the vehicle surrounded by family and friends. "The nervousness left with the early voting announcement. That was the calming part. I'm pleased with the results so far."

Early voters gave 208 votes to White, 232 to Rankin, 76 to John Peterson and 27 to Cory Schwenn.

With over half of the voting boxes counted, Rankin was predicting a few more months of campaigning between himself and White.

"I'm doing fine - looking forward to a run-off, it looks like," Rankin said. "It's an exciting night for a lot of people. There's a lot of races going on. I was nervous - still am."

Schwenn and Peterson took their losses in stride, both saying the campaign offered a chance to meet many new people.

"I have met a lot of good people that I didn't know before. I've enjoyed it thoroughly. I've learned a lot," Peterson said. "He with the most signs wins. That's the way you run a campaign - it works."

Peterson said that he would consider another campaign in the future.

"We'll see how it goes. The people have made their choice," Peterson said. "There's always four years down the road. I'll probably be back, and I'll probably do it a lot differently next time."

Peterson received 204 votes.

Schwenn also viewed the campaign as a positive experience.

"I really enjoyed it. I got to meet a lot of new people and I enjoy meeting new people. It was definitely a learning process. I've never run for public office and it's been fun. I can't say I regret doing it," Schwenn said. "My only regret is that I started late. I wish I had started last summer and started campaigning long before when I did. I'm a relative newcomer to this area and a lot of people didn't know who I was."

"Whatever my final vote total is, I am glad those people thought enough of me to vote for me. I wish I had more of those people and could do more for the county, but it just didn't work out this time," Schwenn said.

Schwenn earned a total of 90 votes.