POST-ELECTION THOUGHTS

Barrack Obama - He is our President, yours, mine and our neighbors. It is our patriotic duty to support him in his efforts to lead the nation, a more patriotic duty than playing higher taxes. While I do not support many of his positions, and worry about the direction the country will be going, I will support the office, and by association, the man who occupies that office.
Dan Kaminsky - I am very pleased to see Dan win the Fond du Lac County District Attorney's race, since I endorsed him in late September. Some critics are claiming that Kaminsky won because he was the GOP candidate, but, here in Ripon, Barrack won the presidential race, and Dan won the DA's race, and they are from different parties.
John Gard - While this district does not cover the Ripon area, we are inundated with the commercials on Green Bay television. Gard lost by 7,000 in 2006, and he lost Tuesday by 28,000. Someone from the Republican Party needs to pull him aside and point out the mathematics, and then find someone who can actually defeat Steve Kagen with a positive, visionary campaign. Gard, to me, represents the GOP which is reeling this morning. His record in Madison was very partisan, and resulted in more people being turned off to the party than coming in under the "big tent".
Ripon - I did not think that the Birthplace of the Republican Party would cast more votes for a Democrat than a Republican in the presidential race, but it did. I am proud 76 percent of the residents turned out for the election, and we had little to no problems at all.
The Republican Party - Is this the wake-up call the party needs? Similar to 1964 and 1992, the party has been shocked at the polls. In 1964, it ran a candidate ahead of its time. In 1992, it had fallen out of touch with the general electorate. I think 2008 is more representative of 1992. At that time, a new wave of leadership took control of the party, setting the stage for the historic 1994 takeover of Congress and the "Contract With America". It is my deepest hope that the leadership we need in Washington and in Madison will come forward, leadership that will get past the flowery speeches and agendas fueled by fear and hatred. We need leadership that will sit down with the American people and talk straight to them about the problems we face with our state and national budgets, the health care and insurance system, Social Security and other entitlements, our crumbling infrastructure, and the crushing debt we face on the personal and governmental levels. Any new leadership must impress upon the people that, in solving these problems, there will be winners, and there will be losers. Trying to please everyone, and trying to shove agendas down people's throats, will not work. Time is running out for us to solve many of these issues.