Making Lemonade
Yesterday was the Ohio primary…not just for president, but other races, including Congress. At 2:18 p.m., I got an email from the Derek Myers for Congress campaign in Ohio’s 2nd district, conceding the race. I thought that was odd…since the polls were still going to be open for more than three hours. I figured either it was a mistake, or they had some really poor exit polling data.
Sure enough, at 2:26 p.m., came an email which read, in all capital letters, DISREGARD CONCESSION EMAIL. It explained that was sent in error due to a technical issue.
Smart campaigns prepare for everything…a speech for winning, a speech for losing, a speech if it’s too close to call. This one accidentally was sent as opposed to being put in the draft folder. Understandable.
What came next was a nice move, making lemonade out of the basket of lemons sitting before them.
At 2:56 p.m., an email with the subject line of, “So, you wanna know what happened?” was sent, quoting the candidate as explaining the process of drafting multiple versions. It talked about being prepared, “especially on such an important night”…well, that’s what they meant, instead the explanation read, “especially on such an impotent night.”
Turns out that was closer to the case…since Mr. Myers finished dead last in the 11-person race, with 1.5 percent of the vote.
Later in the evening, after the votes were counted, a final email noting that he “officially” conceded this time…which was also good humor.
He closed that afternoon explanation by noting, “Whatever the results return this evening, I’ll be thankful for this journey.” The journey got a little rocky near the end, but here’s to folks like Derek Myers who run for public office, handle mistakes with humor, and are willing to be in the arena.
