A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM....

I achieved a "zen state" about the campaign.

Somewhere in between last night's candidates' forum, which was a bit bizarre, and tonight's, I realized that "jacta alia est" or words to that effect. The die had been cast. I had done everything I could do to try and win. Although there were 13 days to go before the primary, with our radio buy completed we had put the final push on and now could only tweak around the edges, work on GOTV and say our prayers.

As they would say in an Alka Seltzer commercial (OK, so I'm dating myself...) "what a relief it is."

Rumors continue to fly about who's up, who's down, who will be endorsing whom etc. etc. etc. It will continue to be that way until 9/19. But I have given up fretting about it (a possible endorsement of another candidate by someone sort of tangential to the whole process had me in a tizzy last night....today I'm sanguine!) and decided rather to concentrate on the fact that I'm proud of me and this whole damn campaign. People have worked hard. We've focused on issues of importance. We've built a wonderful volunteer network of caring and supportive people who believe in good government. We've had fun and we've made friends. We've given people hope that things can change for the better in the political arena.

This achievement has not been without cost. One of our volunteers dropped dead of a heart attack. Another suffered a subdural hematoma. Three volunteers had offspring who had serious medical problems. Three others had parents in similar situations -- one has already died. It was as if we had been cursed.

But what it's really taught us is that winning isn't everything. It's about doing the right thing, remembering that friends, family, health, sickness etc. are all more important. So the tragedies have given us perspective and understanding. And this campaign really IS a family.

There are, of course, more tales to be told. About the weird forum last night. About the WONDERFUL WEDDING of our son David and his bride Jenny Hansen Ware. About how I collected enough campaign donations at the wedding to finally get Betsy's radio spots on the air. We've done a lot with a little. But it's a good metaphor for government.

But we'll save some of these stories for the next installment. I'm exhausted and ready for sleep. There's a lot to be said for "1/2 the calorie Cookie Dough Hagen Daas" and a Jack Daniels Manhattan as the perfect end to the perfect day.