Mayor and incumbent Ann Waltonsmith also won re-election by a narrow margin. Andy Barnes, the one other candidate in the fray, failed in his bid for a city council seat, as he did in 2002.

Measure V, the 4 percent utility users tax measure, failed to get a simple majority. Measure U, the companion advisory measure, passed but holds no meaning as the tax measure itself was defeated.

Kao received 7,238 votes, which is 35 percent of the total votes, and Waltonsmith was re-elected with 6,820 votes (33 percent). Barnes finished third with 6,580 votes (32 percent).

Measure V, the utility tax measure, failed with 10,702 Saratoga residents saying no to the measure (80 percent), while 2,642 voters said yes (20 percent).

All candidates said that they had spent the evening and night of Nov. 2 glued to the website of the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters.

It was an evening of fluctuating fortunes for the three candidates running for the city council. With the site being updated frequently, Kao took an early lead, followed by Barnes and Waltonsmith. But as the evening progressed, Barnes and Waltonsmith were tied neck and neck. Waltonsmith pulled through in the last stages and beat Barnes by 92 votes.

Kao followed the results at home with some friends who had helped her during the election campaign. "My husband was away in New York," she said. "Around 11 p.m. I noticed that I had built up a sizable lead and began to feel more confident."

Kao said that she had invited her friends over to celebrate the completion of the election process. "It was a closure for everyone."

Kao said that she was humbled by the trust that the people of Saratoga had given her. "I will continue to do my homework and try to make our decisions agreeable to most people."

Waltonsmith said that the election was hard work and all the negative campaigning might have put off people. "It is back to work for me," she said.

"I thought Waltonsmith would do better than Kao, but Kao put in a lot of hard work," said Vice Mayor Kathleen King.

Barnes said that the election results were a mandate for change. "Waltonsmith was able to win because she ran on a slate with Kao. Kao helped her win," he said. Barnes said that he would wait for the provisional and absentee ballots to be counted before conceding the election.

Barnes said that the slate system where two or more candidates run their election campaign together was really unfair to independent candidates like him. He said he was pleased, though, that so many residents said no to the utility tax. "That was one of my main campaign planks and I am happy that I was so successful," he said.

Waltonsmith said that the tax measure might have failed because of the difficult economic situation in the country. "It was a hard sell," she said. "We might cut monies to special groups or defer more maintenance. We need to do some fine-tuning."

"It was a blowout for the utility tax," said Councilman Stan Bogosian, who had been against the tax from the very beginning.

Dick Allen, chairman of the finance commission and a member of the revenue review committee, said that election night had been disappointing for him. Allen, who had put in months of work on the tax measure, said that efforts should be made to educate Saratoga residents about city finances. "This is the first campaign I was involved in. I am disappointed, but it was not a total surprise. People do not pull a wallet out of their pockets easily," he said.

"I think the council needs to have some kind of a definitive resolution on the North Campus issue before facing the electorate again," said Allen. "They need to have a plan the community can embrace."

Allen said that with the tax failing, the city would be in a real struggle when it came to putting in more money for the maintenance of the streets and the buildings. "The budget has been set for next year. I think we will be OK until the next budget."