Election loss is a lot harder on candidates

Kevin Quigley has been there, as a candidate and as a voter. He knows better than most how it hurts to lose.

With the Washington governor’s race too close to call, and with millions of Americans stinging from Sen. John Kerry’s loss in the bitter presidential election, Quigley can’t help but remember.

In 2003, he lost a rough primary campaign for Snohomish County executive to Aaron Reardon after taking heat over a misleading mailing.

And in 1996, the Lake Stevens Democrat came within a hair of winning a seat in Congress.

Then a state senator, Quigley woke up two days after the election with a 2,300-vote lead over Republican U.S. Rep. Jack Metcalf. The Herald headline on Nov. 7, 1996, read: “Quigley’s on top, but Metcalf hoping.”

Both the Associated Press and CNN had already given the 2nd Congressional District race to Quigley. The apparent victor had enough doubt to tell The Herald, “I absolutely do not want to get the cart in front of the horse.”

Ten days later, after most absentee ballots had been tallied, Quigley called Metcalf to concede defeat.

If you’ve been feeling down since Tuesday, imagine how Quigley must have felt. Feeling better now? No, I thought not.

Since the election, I’ve picked up my phone more times than I can count to hear a dispirited voice on the line. Somebody’s blue and wants to commiserate about the presidential election. What are they going to do?

To be honest, many (but not all – not by a mile) of these calls are from my daughter in college. With the intensity of the young, she’s feeling a need to do something right now. I tell her what to do – get to class.

It seems President Bush’s backers have misplaced my number. I haven’t heard from one, not even my dear dad. They’re polite not to call. I appreciate it, as I appreciated reading that Bush reportedly told Kerry on the phone that he had been a worthy, tough and honorable opponent.

More than 55 million people voted for Kerry. They believed as passionately as Bush’s supporters did that their choice was right for the country. What is this legion of the disappointed supposed to do now? Get to class isn’t a good enough answer. They can’t spend four years in bed with a loser’s headache.

Quigley sees a distinction between losing as a politician and the defeat he now feels as a voter whose candidate lost the presidency.

“As a candidate, I think my philosophy in life is not to look back. Try to learn and move forward,” said Quigley, 43, an attorney and president of Everett Shipyard. The company has recently won multimillion-dollar contracts to overhaul state ferries.

Quigley called his work running the county’s largest shipyard and creating jobs “superexciting.”

“In life, you have disappointments. Find the next challenge,” he said.

As a citizen, Quigley said, “My wife and I are extremely disappointed with the election results. Millions of people put their faith in him (Kerry) to chart a new course. We’re already talking about how we can make a difference in light of this.”

He’s not interested in being a candidate again, but hopes to address issues “that I don’t think our political leaders are going to take action on.”

Health care, particularly for children, is a big concern, he said. “Had Sen. Kerry been elected president, that may have seemed less urgent in hopes he would have done something about it.”

“Having been in the state Senate and having run for office, I’m convinced we can make a difference. We have to find a path to make that difference,” he said.

As for our nation’s vast political divide, he said, “I don’t think this is any kind of significant crisis for our country. We overwhelmingly share values, regardless of people’s party affiliation.”

Feeling better? Just a little?

We disagree on a lot, we Americans. We agree on a lot more.

Sick and tired of political ads myself, I asked Quigley on Wednesday if at least he was happy it’s over.

Nope. As bruising as his race was in ‘96, he wishes there was still a need to be counting those presidential votes.

“I’d trade a nail-biter for the ending we got,” Quigley said. “I would have been happy to wait, if we could have had a different result.”

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.