Tonight has been a long and emotional night. I've laughed, I've cried, and now I'm just plain worn out. Initially we were up by 36 votes. Things looked good, but they hadn't counted the absentee ballots. With all but one precinct's absentee votes counted, we were up by 21 votes. By the time the last precinct was added in we were down by 32.

To be so close and not win is worse than if it had been a landslide defeat. I guess the good news is that I won't have to go through this pain again until Spring 2006. What happens next? I have no idea.

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