I suppose I should sign off now. I’ll be around behind the scenes until Gary gets the hang of things, but not posting here anymore.

I can’t thank Gary enough for putting up with me. I can’t thank him enough for taking a chance with me. I was a no one when I came on here. I may end up being a has been now that I am leaving here. But the times in between were some of the most exciting I have had in my life.

I never joined on to lose. It really sucks haven given so much of my life to this considering. I never joined to make something of myself. I did it because I thought it was right. I did think Mark Kennedy was the best person to represent Minnesota in the Senate. Some congratulations have to go out to Amy Klobuchar, she did end up winning. I would offer one last word of advice for her. Burn that dang plum pants suit you wear all the time. Please don’t wear that on the floor of the Senate every day like you did almost everyday on the campaign trail.

So thanks to everyone for putting up with a hack like me. I gave it all I had and could, a lot of people did. It was the best this college drop out could do. Believe it or not, it was fun, even with the outcome. I’ll still be blogging on my blog, Residual Forces. I have no clue what the future will bring. I had been planning to go back to being an off the cuff conservative blogger once the elections ended, and I may have sealed that deal by barking up the establishment tree. That seems to be what I am cut out for, bucking the trend and doing what you feel is right. I sure seem to upset a lot of people when I do that, both sides. If that means anything, I guess my time here was a success.

So good bye, and good luck to everyone who I had the honor of getting to know over the course of this campaign. It was an honor to have this chance. Whether anyone will take that chance again, time will tell. Let’s just say I am not holding my breath.

Take care to all of you.
AAA

Senator Coleman & Reps. Bachmann, Kline and Ramstad, please take note:

The night of the long knives is underway at Residual Forces where Andy has kicked off Festivus 6 weeks early.  The ”airing of grievances” about the leadership of the state Republican Party is well underway. 

With the GOP convention coming to town in 21 months, AAA’s questions at least deserve a hearing. 

LEARNEDFOOT CHIDES:  Um… You might want to take a second look at that post title, Andy - er, I mean, Gary.

Gary retorts:  Um, it is an amalgamation of  some well-known (but apparently not well-enough known) Engrish and some of the most dreadful early ’80s metal.  But I guess it kinda loses its subtlety if I have to explain it…

The winner of the second round of focus group testing with the parody theme:  HughJass.com. 

One of the stark realities of election 2006 here in Minnesota is that bloggers had nothing whatsoever to do with the outcome.  So another possibility would be to do more of a topic-driven blog. 

Please vote for your choice of a topic specific blog from the below.

Tim O’Brien of the Star Tribune asked that “five of the best local bloggers” give their thoughts on the elections.  He came to the mistaken conclusion I fit the profile and gave me 200 words on Tuesday’s results.

Tim is a good guy and I genuinely appreciate the opportunity to offer my .02 despite the fact that for 26 months we identified his employer as the flagship of “The Machine.”

Gary M. Miller of Kennedy vs. the Machine (2): “Tired.” That’s what Jihad Jaara, a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terror group, said the message from Americans would be regarding the fight against Islamic terrorists if Democrats were elected. He’s right.

Americans are weary of the global war against terrorism. During the Cold War, some of the finest cold warriors were members of the Democratic Party.

Now that Democrats have some “skin in the game,” we hope they once again become serious about national security.

Tired. That’s also what conservatives and center-right independents were feeling regarding the GOP Congress’ departure from the small-government principles that brought them to power a dozen years ago. Tired of “porktacular” spending. Tired of lax border enforcement. Tired of an unwillingness to tackle tax and entitlement reform. Mark Kennedy, regrettably, was swept away by an environment in which Republicans had gotten entirely too comfortable in the government they used to only tolerate if not disdain — an environment he was not complicit in creating.

The winner of the first round of focus group testing with the “vs.” theme:  Burt Reynolds vs. Norm MacDonald impersonating Burt Reynolds.

Of course one possibility would be to do a parody blog — you know, rip off the name of a well-known blog in the hopes that someone’s fat fingers will accidentally direct them to my new blog.

Please vote on your choice for a parody blog derived from the name of some of the finest local and national conservative blogs.

I would really appreciate your help with this as I test market the name and focus of my next blog. 

LEARNEDFOOT SUGGESTS THE OBVIOUS: How about “Gary vs. Andy”?

GARY ENJOINS:  Haven’t you been reading the blog?  We already had that matchup–and I lost.  Big time. 

Gary here.  Just wanted to let people know that this will remain the destination of my next blogging gig.  KvM will soon have a new name and masthead, but the kennedyvmachine.com url will still direct you here. 

Senator Coleman just paid me a ridiculous sum of money NOT to blog his 2008 re-election campaign. 

You should really check our Residual Forces. No, I mean it. You should.

Gary notes:  I charge for advertising, Kingpin.

Andy:
Did you go read the link that I posted? You should really go read it!

Gary:  Just kidding.  Have fun. 

I’m opening up a can of whoop arse on my blog Residual Forces if anyone cares. I’m going over why I think Republicans got put on the endangered species list in Washington and St. Paul. I am not pulling punches, and I am probably never going to work politically in this town again. So far I have been getting private emails saying they were glad someone was saying this stuff though.

I’ve been doing a series of posts that will make me no friends in places if power in the party. Right now, I don’t really care. I’m worried about the future of my party, my nation, and the world. We cannot have another election performance like this again. That’s why I am doing it. Our party is broken right now, we have to acknowledge that and do something about it. With ‘08 just 725 days away, we had better get to work.

I just wanted to thank the Kennedy family for letting me get to know them, the campaign, and Mark Kennedy, oh and Gary. When I started off here, how ever many months ago it was, I was just a lowly technical advisor. To end up being on the RV with Mark the last 100 hours of the race was an honor and a privilege.

I wish this had turned out differently. I wish I could have done more, but … well, it’s over.

I met a lot of great people along the way, and hopefully someday soon, we’ll cross paths again.

So thanks again to everyone.

AAA

Without regrets, Kennedy looks to the future 

Will the Democrats get us killed before they tax us to death?

Powerline 

Yesterday’s biggest winners:

illegal immigrants.

I will be posting my thoughts on the election after a day or two of much needed rest. 

I will concede that the historically inaccurate Minnesota Poll got this one just about spot on (wipes egg from face).  I could not have contemplated a margin this large in the Senate race. 

Thanks to Chairman Carey for his generous acknowledgement of KvM in the wee hours.  Thanks to the Kennedy family for their kind words.  Thanks to all the Kennedy staffers.

That’s about all I have time for right now.  It’s 3:11 and I just got home from watching the Governor’s victory speech. 

Try back in a day or so.  Thanks to all.   

UPDATE:  Wednesday morning thoughts.  When I was on my way to the Bloomington Sheraton last evening, when the breadth of the GOP losses nationwide were not yet apparent, I was feeling sad for Gov. Pawlenty who — even if he won — was finished on the national stage.  Now, in the wake of the massacre, the supremely likeable and competent Pawlenty looks like a major-league survivor.  His stock rose dramatically if only because that of so many others fell. 

Last thought:  It’s time to go paleo.

That it is probably a good thing that my own blog has exceeded it’s bandwidth limit. I’m just saying, I really want to say stuff.

Well. This is going to be my short and sweet, don’t get yourself in any trouble post.

The better man did not win this race. Mark was gracious in his defeat, but he did not deserve it. There has never been a finer man to run for office.

I am going to do a 24 hour posting embargo.

If anyone really really wants to hear from me, call 612-916-3232.

Steele leads by 20K votes with 44% in.  Interesting. 

This would be a soothing balm to an otherwise disappointing night. 

Bob Collins just recounted his exposure of CD-gate.  I’ll give him credit.  He still thinks that was a coup.  Well, good for him.

He recalled how the Republican “machine” went after him over that.  The video was replete with pictures of bunker-busting smart bombs — emblematic of, I presume, “the machine” trying to destroy MPR. 

*Sigh*

It pains me but Kennedy is about to concede.