Photos from my 2012 Campaign for U.S. Congress.
500 Volunteers. 10 Staff. 4 field offices. 2000 donors. Over $300,000 raised from regular ordinary Idahoans. 110,000 votes in one of the toughest years to run as a Democrat in Idaho. Over 1/4 million phone calls made. Over 25,000 voters contacted and logged. More votes than any Democrat has gotten in the East half of the state ever.
With my deepest respect & gratitude: Thank you all. With LOVE & hope that we can & will do better. My staff is phenomenal. We would be nothing but 10 people in a cafe without all of YOU who gave time or money to make this happen. We organized half the state in ways that helped other candidates on November 6th. The work you all did will continue to help many in the years ahead.
What will I do next. I don't know. I do know it's not over Idaho.
.. nicole
Stay in touch: http://4idaho.org
Nicole,
I first "met" you via this blog in February 2008 because you happened to mention you were listening to a friend of mine, Catie Curtis, in the Idaho House. So I feel it's fitting to make a comment here now instead of FB or all the other places.
I read your postings here, wrote an endorsement diary on Daily Kos when you ran for State Senate in 2008, donated what I could afford to all of your campaigns since then, and have tried to get my one friend that lives in Idaho (alas, not in your district) to help spread the word up there. I did this because although I'm not an Idahoan, I believed you to be the kind of person who believed in what she stood for, who she was and who she was there to serve. Your years of service as a teacher and as an openly gay and proud legislator paired with your comments of anguish and frustration with the short sighted sausage making of and killing bills...all of that together...gave me hope - as a woman, a lesbian, an American.
For this California native, you represented the best of Idaho...a state I've never visited...because you were the antithesis of the hate filled, bigoted, fundamentalist, separatist "white" person that fed the stereotype image of too many Idahoans, which has never enticed me to come visit...even knowing that's not fair to many good people up there.
So thank you.
Thank you for your perseverance, your dedication, your passion for what's right. Thank you for trying to fight the good fight. Thank you for your unending pleas for more donations (well, sort of ;) because you were trying the hardest you could to make a difference for us all...in what appeared to be almost a Quixotic endeavor.
I'm glad to hear your campaign staff and you working your butts off created some great results...even in Idaho. Thank you to them and all the volunteers and supporters for putting our money to good use, for trying to make a difference.
I wish you all the best on whatever your next endeavor will be...holed up writing somewhere, teaching, or hiking in the backcountry...whatever will bring some stress relief and a deep breath. I know this will not be the last we hear of you. I hope that maybe when I do finally get up to that part of the country, I'll have an opportunity to buy you a cup of coffee...or tea...or an adult beverage ;) and say thank you again in person.
Be well & peace,
Heather Stewart
Posted by: Heather | November 21, 2012 at 07:33 PM