I won! This foray into competitive politics, however, will be my first and last. I don�t know how Al Gore stood it. The election results, for reasons still not clear, were not available until this morning. All the other districts results were in but not my district. I went to bed ahead but concerned because the place I expected to run most weakly did not have its results in. This morning I discovered that I eked out a win.

This win would feel a lot better except that news of this win was accompanied by news of an arrest and issuance of a citation. There were dirty tricks. I knew that Candidate L.�s signs were disappearing. Unfortunately, it apparently turns out that the person taking them was a supporter of Candidate W. and me. I had no idea that she was doing it. I have no idea why she was doing it. From the sounds of it, she wasn�t doing it alone. She isn�t that well organized. She could take signs by herself but supposedly some campaign literature disappeared. My belief, and the general consensus, is that she could not do two things at the same time.

It feels dirty. I don�t understand it. If it didn�t mean that much to me---and the school board would never mean that much to me---how could it have meant so much to others. I believe the school board matters (or I wouldn�t devote as much time and energy as I have) but I don�t believe that the world would have come to an end if any combination of us had won. Actually, that belief was one of the reasons I found it so hard to sell myself.

I also believe that the loss of Candidate L. is a big loss. Yes, he often disagrees with me. Yes, I often believe that he does not really understand kids. But he understood the senior citizens of this community and he has a good heart. We needed him as a door to that community. Candidate W.�s son graduates this spring. She will not truly be a part of the school community and she will not truly be a part of the community that already has raised its kids. She seems nice enough and bright enough but I�m not sure she brings anything unique as Candidate L. did.

I wanted to win this election. I got in the first time in an uncontested race. I wanted the stamp of approval of the voters. I won---but I�m not sure what the voters would have said in a truly fair race. I doubt that the woman who was cited will ever understand that she stole that from me when she took the signs.

I won�and I was robbed.

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