As a consultant I take great pride in seeing my clients win.  It sure is fun to win, especially in the face of huge opposition.  OC Supervisor-Elect Pat Bates is a great example.  She won in the face of a four-to-one fund raising advantage (Gilliard Blanning Wysocki ran her campaign, my firm did the polling). 

Pat is also a great example of the gracious winner. 

Since Election Day candidates like Bates who pulled off victories have fielded congratulatory calls, many from people who were not as supportive as they could have been during the election.  Some from people who were no where to be found, but now want to be a father of their success.

The nature of many candidates is to question the intentions of those well wishers and ask "Where the hell were you last month when i needed another $10,000 to pay for that last piece of mail?"

But the gracious winner never says that.  They smile, thank the caller for their kind words and do a little silent victory dance in their head.

We can all learn a lesson from candidates like Anaheim Councilwoman-Elect Lucille Kring.  She is another gracious winner.  Having taken out an incumbent council member thrusting herself into swing vote status on the five member body without going negative during the campaign, Lucille could very easily make everyone ‘kiss the ring’.  But she isn’t like that.  She is respectful and thankful and gracious about the support she is getting regardless. 

There may be a time for vindictiveness and ‘screw you’ politicking, but right now, right after a sweet victory, is not it.  And candidates who go with that as the rule will earn great respect and raise more money and be more effective in their role as a public policy makers.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.