From an email sent by my Dad titled "Lessons":

"David-All is not lost!! I was glad to see that you turned your election defeat into a positive reaction. I don't know if you remember or not, but when I was band director, I always told the band members, before entering any contest, "If we could not stand defeat, we did not deserve victory". 

Any defeat is a hard pill to swallow, but when we turn it into a positive situation, defeat actually becomes a victory, and I think this is exactly how you are handling the situation. Believe me, you will be a much bigger man and better "politician" because of this. Your mother and I are proud of you, even if you had run dead last."

Now you know why I am who I am.

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The News & Record headline should read, "Hoggard attains City Council At-Large Pro Tem status", but it does not.  The consolation prize is a footnote:  "Challengers David Hoggard, Bill Burckley and Jason Arispe found themselves on the wrong end of the vote count with 11.4, 10.6 and 6 percent, respectively."

In a campaign that is all about name recognition, "Hoggard4Council" just didn't get enough of the electorate's brains to connect with their eyeballs - so we call this a building year.

I learned a whole lot, made a bunch of new friends (thankfully few enemies), gained new respect for those whom we elect, and received affirmation that I have surrounded myself with the "right" people.

Thanks to:

• My family - Jinni especially.  I haven't yet summoned the words to express how blessed I am in this category but will try later.  Mom and Dad in Kentucky for their encouragement even while engaged in serious health problems (Dad is doing fine BTW).  Sister Judy for covering for me at the hospital.  Brother Keith for all of his research, HTML knowledge and early morning election results number crunching.
• My fellow Aycockians - This City has no idea of the raw power that resides within a four block circumference of my house.  Don't screw with us.  Although they were weary and broke after a fourteen month baseball battle, the crew kept asking, "what can I do to help?"  I will not list them all, because if I missed someone it would crush me.
• Roch Smith Jr. and John Whisnant.  Roch - we ain't through - we WILL find a way to get every one of your ideas implemented.  John - Thanks for taking me under your considerable political wings.
• Contributors and volunteers - Again too many to mention.  I will make every effort to contact each of you to thank you profusely and re-enlist your efforts.
• Ed Cone.  This weblog, that will continue under some other catchy name (Ed came up with Hoggard4Council) was undertaken because of his urging and he has been a great sounding board.  One of the Blogfathers, Ed is a tireless proponent of the political weblog and I hope that mine has helped to further his contention that, in the future, candidates will either blog or die.

Now... please excuse me... I've got stuff to do.  I'll talk to you soon. (probably tomorrow).

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