Best of The Bay 2016: Win Win!

If you’re one of those benighted souls who still haven’t made up their minds about which presidential candidate they dislike the least in this year’s presidential election, we’re here to offer you certainty, and relief. Because the elections for Best of the Bay are over! We received 135,000 reader ballots over the summer, the voters registering their opinions in nearly 300 Readers’ Poll categories. CL staffers and contributors made their favorites known, too, writing close to 200 Critics’ Picks.

And all of the so much winning is right here.

It being an election year, though, we did feel it necessary to acknowledge the elephant (and the donkey) in the room. So who better to enlist as our cover models but the man and woman taking up all this year’s electoral oxygen?

Because we’re stronger together.

Many thanks to the inspired impersonations of Scott Daniel and Matthew McGee, aka Scott & Patti, who did their patriotic duty as the two candidates; to Frank Chavez, who outfitted them in campaign-wear (and to Scott, who did the wigs and crafted the perfect shade of Halloween orange for his makeup); to Alessi’s Bakery for the election-year cookies; and to Todd Bates, photographer extraordinaire, and Julio Ramos, CL’s creative director, who pulled the whole crazy thing together with his stylish eye.

And special thanks to all of the readers who voted, the nominees who campaigned, and the writers and editors who opinionated with such flair.

You win!

—David Warner