The elections are over. No more TV ads. I read today that Portland was #3 in the country for the number of political TV ads this season. Ugh, glad that is over but those shows we recorded still have them. Luckily we can skip right through that part.
Dick's campaign led us through a lot of ups and downs, letters to the editor, rumors about Dick, speeches, coffees, radio interviews and a few hives for me, stress for Dick before it was all over. He was overwhelmingly successful so it was worth it. Lincoln City has a population of about 8,000 people but about 30,000 with the tourists that come to town. There are approximately 3,600 voters but of course they don't all vote. Dick got a little over 1,600 votes to the incumbents 991 and there were a few who actually voted for the cannibus candidate. There were no real polls. Our friends said they heard that a lot of people wanted Dick to win but you never know if it is just the circle of friends you know that say that or if there really are enough votes to win. Thus, the last week before the election, I broke out in hives. I went for a massage and that helped so much. About the same time, we were out twice a day at the D River waving signs during what we call rush hour (actually, it is just the time people drive to work but no rush in Lincoln City except the tourists coming on Friday night and leaving on Sunday). I was also busy getting food together for our election night gathering. At least the last few days I had something to concentrate on and the hives didn't come back.
The sign waving was fun! Even when the rain dumped buckets on us and the wind almost blew us away, we smiled, waved and had fun. There were a couple of people running for city council out there. Dick was there. And one day a candidate for county commissioner showed up for a morning wave with the signs. It was fun smiling and waving and seeing how many people would wave back or you could at least get to smile. There was a lot of honking and thumbs up. There were a lot of ballots waved as people were on their way to city hall to drop them off. One man made me really nervous when he wanted to make sure he showed both sides of the road that he liked the candidates, took his hands off the steering wheel and did a thumbs up to each side of the road. One of the funniest signs had a hand written "Honk for Dick" on it. There were a few cars with passengers and drivers laughing so hard they had to pull over and then wave, thumbs us or honk. I only knew about 3 one-fingered waves and that is expected but it was an overwhelmingly a success.
The election night gathering was another unbelieveable election experience. We invited many of the people who were active in the campaign. We invited about 100 people but many of them were from out of town so we had no idea how many people would come out. Both Brett and Allison made it over from the Portland area for the night and it was nice to have family there! Allison hooked up her computer to broadcast our event online. It was slow but at least people could see what was happening even if they couldn't attend. Then she hooked up my computer to show the county results through a projector onto a big screen. We had lots of food and drinks and I brought out the custom M&Ms with Dick's picture and "Mayor Anderson" on them. We voted for our favorite local pizzas after tasting them. And then the results came in...
Wouldn't you know it but I was in the bathroom. I heard somone clap...just one or two. Then I ran out and up to the screen and saw that Dick had a wide margin and was in the lead. Everyone had believed it was going to be close. All of us! So, we just stood there and looked. We were shocked. No real screaming, clapping, hooting or hollering. We just stared at the screen. Then we all started congratulating each other and giving each other hugs. No one really wanted to jinx things by celebrating too early. But it didn't look like there were enough votes still out there to change the lead even if they all voted for Lori. But still no one wanted to jinx it! Lots of celebrating and happiness but no real outburst. It felt so strange but we were all so happy. It was a cautious celebration. Later, when more results came in, the margin got wider and we knew for sure and we all went home for a good night's sleep.
The group at the election gathering was unreal. There were those really active in the campaign people, behind the scenes people, financial backers, neighborhood walkers, sign wavers, and some who were quiet supporters. They were from all walks of life, retired folks, young people, Henry from the doughnut shop, the gravel pit people, construction people, waiters, people from the arts, people recovering from health problems, friends drove over for just a couple of hours from Wilsonville and it is a 2 hour drive, people from the coffee shops, art galleries, florists, accounting people, one friend who makes purses, a hotel owner, our kids, our friends and neighbors. It was a true mix of all kinds of people who had heard the names of most of the others but most had not met. We even had one couple who rarely get out attend. It was comfortable. It was Lincoln City at its best pulling together to elect someone who can change things and help the town become a true community once again.
Dick came down with a cold the next morning and had to be on the radio the next morning at 7:30am. We put Nyquil into him and got a cup of hot coffee. He stopped coughing long enough to talk to the community for half an hour. We have been stopping by our coffee shop hangouts to thank our supporters. We have driven all over town to take down signs. Dick is doing a lot of planning for the future and we have to get him a new notebook he carries to keep track of people, phone numbers, email addresses and most importantly...ideas from the community. He has two more interviews on the local radio talk shows on Tuesday and Thursday. People are calling for meetings. He met with the Siletz Tribal people. Dick is on the move. People are coming out of the woodwork and speaking their minds. This is a true community.
It's just another sunny day at the beach!
