Sorry for having missed this or pretending this is bigger news than it is, but why were we not informed that former Suns guard Kevin Johnson was on the verge of becoming the mayor of a major U.S. city (OK, mid-major). From the AP (though just for fun we’ve added our own words in italics):

Former NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson survived his first political test Tuesday, forcing a runoff election against the two-term incumbent in California’s capital city.

Neither candidate secured enough votes to win outright in a mayoral race that drew national attention everywhere but the places Michael Rand was reading and claims of dirty politics after old sexual misconduct accusations surfaced against the challenger.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Johnson was leading incumbent Heather Fargo 47 percent to 40 percent. Five lesser-known challengers split the rest of the vote and a case of Natural Light.

The candidates needed more than 50 percent to win the contest outright. Johnson was ebullient Tuesday night in a brief address to energized supporters at an inner-city art gallery he helped develop.

“They said we didn’t have enough experience. They said we mismanaged the campaign. They said all the negative stuff would stick,” Johnson said. “The prognosticators were wrong.”

In contrast, the mood at Fargo’s Election Night party was subdued, and not just because she would not win a third term outright.

Her original party at a downtown Mexican restaurant had to be evacuated after a particularly gassy patron couldn’t keep a lid on it and a 30-foot tree branch collapsed on supporters gathered on the patio, sending one woman to the hospital.

Fargo called it a “freak accident” and, blaming Randy Moss, moved the party to her campaign headquarters.

Fargo said she was preparing to start fundraising anew after being outspent three-to-one by the millionaire former ballplayer who drew stars such as Magic Johnson to his campaign events.

“I’ll be focused on trying to remind people what Sacramento is like now and what it was like before I became mayor,” eight years ago, said Fargo, who has been criticized as uninspiring and underachieving and often compared to Boof Bonser.

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