The Day After

I was out late last night, trying to hit as many of the election night parties as I could. With my re-election now looming close, the day after the city elections mark the end of the city campaigns and the kick off of in earnest of the county and state office campaigns. Although I began my re-election campaign in September of 2005 with a float in the Fiesta Parade we go into high gear today.
Our crew hit the smaller and less optimistic parties early last night hoping to shake as many hands as possible before those parties broke up. We headed to New Mayor David Coss's party last which was still in high gear and had a steady stream of people in and out. As I visited the different parties I was reminded of my first loss in 1998 and how we felt election night. As the night went on I was then reminded of my win in 2002 and the jubilation of four years work to attain that goal. Having experienced both wins and losses in my political and Union careers I must say that I learned a lot from the loss which was instrumental in my win in 2002 against two other strong primary candidates.

We are very busy this week between campaigning in the end of the city elections and the planning of our next fundraiser which is Friday, March 17, 2006 at the Fraternal Order of Police. This is St Patricks Day and we will be hosting a Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner which begins at 6pm. Our signs and bumper stickers should be in and we will begin distributing them that night. We also have a raffle in which the grand prize is a trip for two to stay at the Golden Nugget Hotel in Las Vegas Nevada. This includes airfare and hotel accommodations.

Let me end this post with a congratulations to all the candidates in the city elections. You all contributed to progress in the city whether you won or not. Its the dialog and opposition that candidates have that force all the candidates to think hard about why they are running and what they want to accomplish. The campaign itself does more to form opinions and ideas between elections than anything that occurs during the candidates terms. I have never forgotten the repeated themes and comments that are drilled into you on the campaign trail. Even supporters of your opponents and why they are doing so are important lessons to be learned.