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News for Senate District 66 |
| Online Extra! November 2004 |
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This message appeared on the SD 66 main page just after the election. Schedule details, outdated now, are omitted.
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| Erica Schumacher |
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I was going to send this announcement out yesterday, but I was trying to take it all in and make sense of what happened on Tuesday. The great news is that we gained 13 seats in the Minnesota house and Minnesota went for John Kerry. Our candidates, Alice Hausman, John Lesch, and Betty McCollum, were all re-elected by overwhelming margins. There are so many of you who deserve accolades for the dedication you showed in walking, talking, stuffing, labeling, collating, driving, knocking, and organizing to earn the votes of Minnesotans for our candidates. We must not let the outcomes of the national elections overshadow the victories we were able to achieve in Minnesota.
I was fortunate enough to experience an incredible Get Out The Vote effort at Hamline all day Tuesday. People of all races, ages, ethnicities, genders, cultures, religions, and abilites came together to do whatever they could to get out the vote for John Kerry. The spirit, energy, and teamwork of these individuals was truly inspirational. Volunteers returned two, three, and even four times and went back out into the community in search of eligible voters. They embodied the sense of hope that Kerry and Edwards instilled in us, as proponents of the American dream.
Now, our challenge is to take our hurt, disappointment, and anger and turn it into strengthened resolve to fight for the issues that compelled us to campaign so vigorously.
As Mahatma Gandhi so eloquently stated,
"You must be the change you seek in the world."
We are not alone. As one British headline so tactfully proclaimed, "How can [fifty some] million Americans be so dumb?"
On that note, I would like to challenge each of us to reflect on the campaigns we were all involved in, the effects of the media, and any other factors that may have influenced the outcome of this election. Where do we go from here?
We will be adopting a new format for our Senate District meetings. In an attempt to increase the efficiency and productivity of our meetings, we will be focusing on Senate District business for roughly the first hour of the meeting. The second hour will then be devoted to house club meetings, discussions, and political chit chat.
I look forward to seeing all of you and benefiting from your collective wisdom.
"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph."— Haile Selassie
With heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you for everything you did over the past several months to make our voices heard,
Erica Schumacher
SD66 Chair
Nov. 5, 2004
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SD 66 newsletter designed by Lee Ann Owens. Web page adaptation by Hal Keen. |