THURSDAY NIGHTS AT 9
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The Campaign Ends
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
And so, the long campaign comes to an end. I would like to congratulate my opponent on her victory, and on a race well-run. We each ran campaigns focused on politics rather than personalities, and the district will be better served by it. I wish her well in the legislature, and encourage her to endeavor to represent all the residents of the district, as I'm sure she will.
Along the way, I believe we have accomplished much. Even in losing, we have attracted more votes than any Republican in District 6 in the last 12 years, and a higher percentage of the vote than any Republican in 8 years. That turnout helped defeat and pass numerous ballot initiatives. We succeeded in stopping Amendment 59 and Referendum O, and succeeded in passing Amendment 54. As I write, the fate of Amendment 46 is as yet undecided. Should it pass, our efforts here will have helped to provide the margin of victory.
A candidate is like the astronaut on the tip of the rocket: without all the engineers, he just sits there. I want to personally thank all the volunteers who have helped, from the beginning when we were petitioning onto the ballot, on through the primaries and the general election. This includes all those who walked precincts, made phone calls, gathered signatures, hosted yard signs, and those who did the hardest thing of all: voluntarily part with their hard-earned money in support of our efforts.
I particularly want to thank Ruth Prendergast, my campaign manager, without whom this whole campaign would have fallen apart before we got fairly started; Mark Makowitz, my treasurer and general counsel, who mastered and handled myriad technical details about campaign finance and did the disinctly unglamorous work of keeping us in compliance and out of trouble; Susie Ehrenfeld who ran our electronic media campaign; Wendy Warner, my strategist, who made sure we were walking the right precincts, and who has begun the task of whipping District 6 back into fighting shape as its District Captain; Karen Kataline, who was there at the very beginning, and whose herculean efforts helped launch this effort from - literally - nothing.
While many walked and gathered signatures and made phone calls, I'd like to single out a few who went above and beyond: Denise Myrup, Joe Defez, Darrin Levy, and Jenny and Loyd Pearcy, who collected dozens (in some cases over one hundred) signatures; Tom Aanerud, who not only handled our signs but also walked a number of precincts not even his own; Phyllis Hirschfeld for collecting dozens of signatures and walking both her precinct and others; Jim Johnston, David Brittain, Dmitry Vilner, Jeff Krump, Scott Vickrey, Bill Skewes, Susan Kikoen, Chris Barnes, Rosina Kovar, Judy Krall, and Mark Robertson, for walking theirs and others' precincts with me in search of votes.
We thank Neil & Leah Dobro, Bob Buckland, Amanda Mountjoy, Mary Meade, Donna & Jim Johnston, Jenny & Loyd Pearcy, and Drs. Rachel and Nathan Rabinovitch for opening their homes to help us in the quest for that most criticial in any campaign - money to get our message out.
And I want to thank Hank Brown, Bob Schaffer, John Andrews, Kent Lambert, Mark Hillman, Hugh Hewitt, Mike Rosen, Richard Allen and Zuhdi Jasser. When the integrity of our great party was threatened, they stepped up and lent their names and their reputations to an untried, untested candidate for both the primary and general elections.
Now, while we all will take a breather for a moment from electoral politics, we must also remember, and never forget, the ideas that this campaign was really about: freedom, liberty, trust of our fellow citizens, and their offspring: dignity, opportunity, and hope. While our party has suffered some losses last night, we must remain true to those eternal principles. We must and will continue to carry that message into the public square, so that in the fullness of time, we can see them, our birthright as Americans, once again fully embraced by the people of Colorado and the United States.
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