Well, no one managed an electoral-death-defying reversal in those late ballots that the county elections office has been dutifully counting for the past two weeks. Estelle Fennell is still in, with 52.59 percent of the vote, Clif Clendenen is still out, with 46.94 percent, and nothing's looking good in Humboldt for Norman Soloman's congressional bid, according to final vote tallies released by the county Tuesday.

Other tidbits in county tally: In the battle for the soul of Humboldt's Democratic party -- or at least the four seats representing the 4th District on the Democratic Central Committee -- that soul appears to be a conflicted one. The four-person ticket assembled by Richard Marks to steer the party right (or center, depending on who you ask), got only one of its candidates on the board -- County Supervisor Virginia Bass. She won with 1,237 votes, or 16.85 percent of those cast. Fellow travelers Marks, Eureka Councilwoman Marian Brady and Eureka resident Chuck Ellsworth didn't get enough support to take one of the other three seats. Those went to Linda Atkins, with 1,286 votes (17.52 percent), Pam Service 1,013 votes (13.80 percent) and Bob Service with 939 votes (12.79 percent).