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On winning and what it means

By Stephanie Schriock on 08/11/2010 @ 04:08 PM

Tags: 2010 Elections, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, MN-Gov, Stephanie's Take

Late last night, votes were still being counted in Minnesota. Unfortunately, EMILY’s List candidate for governor Margaret Anderson Kelliher came up just a few thousand votes short of one her opponents, Mark Dayton. As an alum of Senator Al Franken’s campaign in the very same state, I can tell you I certainly know the difference a seemingly small number of votes can make. In the end, though, the poll numbers - and who wins because of them - don’t tell the whole story.

Something to consider: Margaret earned 39.8% of the votes, compared to her closest opponent’s 41.3% -- but she was outspent 4 to 1, by Dayton alone. And she faced another self-funding candidate, bringing their total spend to $8 million more than hers. What does this mean? Despite this huge hurdle, Margaret and her team ran a fantastic race, with lots of hard work in grassroots organizing and winning endorsements from her party and newspapers alike. This is testament to Margaret’s strong leadership – and how this is certainly not the last you’ll be hearing from such a promising and talented candidate.

Are we disappointed that we’re not celebrating a Kelliher victory today? Of course. So it goes in politics and in life – we take what we can learn from the experience and look to the next fight. But this one loss is just that – one loss, and we couldn’t be prouder of the positive, effective campaign that Margaret led. We’re looking forward to a win of hers in the very near future.

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