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In his book Rafferty wrote: "The quest for the Golden Fleece has been crowded out by the visit of Tom and Susan to the zoo. Jackie pursues his insipid goal of a ride in the district garbage truck with good old crotchety Mr. Jones while the deathless ride of Paul Revere goes unwept, unhonored and unsung. Modern education has debunked the hero to make room for the jerk." Richardson complimented Rafferty on having "the finest mind of the 12th century." Rafferty accused Richardson of "left-leaning liberalism" and being soft on life adjustment.
The tally told its own story of how passionately Americans take school affairs nowadays. After three days of neck-and-neck counting, the candidates ended in the closest expectable approximation of a three-way tie. Richardson got 705,330, Rafferty 641,808, and Hardesty 631,230.
The effect of producing no clear majority was to throw the contest into a November runoff between Richardson and Rafferty. Between now and then, California will hear a lot more sharp and generally wholesome debate on what its schools should be.
* Superintendents are appointed by the state board of education in 23 states, by the governor in five. The trend is away from elections.