A temporary calm has settled over the race for the 72nd AD.  In a noteworthy post over at Total Buzz, Martin Wisckol writes about a poll done this past Friday (as Matt Cunningham first reported on Sunday) reported by Linda Ackerman's Ed Roski's IE Alliance for California's Tomorrow.  The results of the poll have not been released, but it's a pretty good bet that the numbers were just not there for Linda.  The mailboxes have been quiet since Friday.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess that the reason there hasn't been any mail is because it is all for naught if Norby is way ahead in the polls. 

Another reason to think that this race may be over is that over 20,000 absentee ballots out of over 78,000 mailed have been returned already to the Registrar's Office.  This is a 26% turnout on the vote by mail ballots. The mail in ballots will probably comprise over 70% of the the total turnout using past special elections as a guide. 

Lastly I find it interesting that neither the Ackerman campaign, nor or the IE have mailed anything on the ethics admonition against Norby that they received from the OCRP.  The whole reason their campaign goes through the motions of getting one of these letters is so that they can use it to hammer the other candidate in the mail with breathless charges of "Norby IS Unethical" or something.  So there is lots of evidence to believe this race is close to being over.