Apparently Campbell isn't lying awake at night, worrying about losing ground in his frontrunner's status while he parties with the big boys and girls back east.

Kudos for Kelley

Blog critiques, which can be scathing, were upbeat when it came to the Orange County elections office's performance last Tuesday. Pollster Adam Probolsky, on www.flashreport.org, praised the latest online results technology - which is more extensive than we got into in last week's Buzz - and said that acting Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley "deserves a resounding round of applause."

Even the anonymous "Lurk" at www.ocblog.net wrote, "If he wants it, Kelley needs to keep this job permanently."

One of the new features was a digital clock offering a countdown until the next vote-tally update. Kelley hit nearly every self-imposed deadline, and those he missed were only a few minutes off. Not counting the Korean sample ballot screw-up, this was one of the most flawless performances since the Buzz has been kicking around these elections. Another elections veteran, Register investigative reporter and master statistician Ron Campbell, monitored the online results and offered similar praise.

"That was the quickest and smoothest (election) I can remember," he said.

Norby's olive branch

The aloha spirit has been in the Anaheim air, and it's not coming from Disneyland.

The plan has long been for Orange County to end up without unincorporated swaths, but some longstanding communities like Sunset Beach, Rossmoor, Midway City and North Tustin prefer their individual identities to joining adjacent cities

To that list, add the West Islands, unincorporated chunks of land in west Anaheim. Last month, Anaheim's effort to annex a 495-acre island was rebuffed by voters. While county Supervisor Chris Norbywanted to see this piece of his turf taken over by the city, he was a gracious loser - in a characteristically quirky manner: On Wednesday, he donned a Hawaiian shirt and lei, and threw leaders of the West Islands a luau in his office, complete with fresh pineapples and papayas.

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," quipped Norby.

Dems honor heroes

Mediator, union organizer and Huntington Beach high schools trustee Bonnie Prouty Castrey on Friday will receive county Democrats' top honor, the Truman Award, in recognition of her political activism. Castrey worked as a nurse early in her career, which led to organizing fellow nurses and becoming involved with nurses unions. She has since become private mediator and arbitrator, and was appointed by President Bill Clintonto the Federal Service Impasses Panel.

Anaheim Councilman Richard Chavez, long active with the Anaheim Firefighters Association and former vice president of the Orange County Central Labor Council, will be honored with the party's Samuel Gompers Award.

The awards will be presented at the party's big annual bash, the Harry S. Truman Award Dinner, to be held at the Anaheim Hilton. Tickets are $100. For more information, call (714) 835-5158.

Quote of the week

"I think Schwarzenegger's endorsement of Proposition 73 might have hurt it, because voters turned against him."

Randy Thomasson, Campaign for Children and Families, discussing reasons the parental notification measure lost.