Dear Supporters,

Well, the results are in and they are not what we'd hoped for. My opponent, Carolyn Dykema, won a decisive victory today and I called and offered my congratulations to her shortly past 9pm. She ran an excellent race, she stayed firmly on her message, and she stuck to her convictions. That is much more than can be said of many people in politics these days. As I told the reporters who called me for comment tonight, I think Carolyn will do a great job for our district, and I hope she will stick to some of the positions she took during our race.

I told Carolyn tonight at the polls that I appreciated the tone and demeanor of her campaign and that of her supporters. As many times as "her people" and "my people" lined up on opposite corners in the various towns of the Eighth Middlesex District, I never once witnessed a cross word exchanged - to the contrary. That is one of the many thing I enjoyed and treasured about running for office in a district like ours, where political adversaries are often friends and ties of family and friendship cross party lines. I hope that her supporters are tonight enjoying the celebration that they have earned. I know they do not agree with many of the positions I took during the campaign, but with the rare exception of some intemperate - and usually anonymous - blog postings, they always disagreed with me respectfully and with good humor.

I am proud of the campaign we ran. Given the chance to do it over, I cannot tonight think of a thing I would do differently, and for that and many other reasons I have no regrets. This was a worthwhile endeavor. I still find it remarkable that the issues I was talking about at the end of the campaign were the very same ones I talked about in May when I kicked it off. Those issues became more salient as the campaign progressed, and will be as important tomorrow as they were yesterday.

I am better for having done this, for having met and befriended the many people who gave so much of their time, their energies and their financial resources to help in this effort that ultimately came up short. As I said, though, I am very proud of that effort and I hope that you are too.

Thank you so much for your support. I appreciate it more than I can say. If I can at any time and in any way be of service to you, please do not hesitate. And please stay in touch.

Best wishes,
Dan