How To Win After Losing

Cindy Manning is a friend of mine. One of those I knew before and outside of current political circles. She’s a now former candidate for District Attorney in the Griffin Judicial Circuit. That was a 3 person race and she missed the runoff. I supported her, because 1) that’s what friends do, and 2) I find her professional qualifications and her personal temperament right for the position. Alas, I no longer live down there and “support” was limited to a small check. She came up short.

The following is a post from her facebook page. It shows what politics should be like. Contests filled with people who run for office because they think about the bigger picture, and offer themselves up to be a part of it. If and when the public disagree or go another direction, they do what is best, support the best remaining candidate, and otherwise know and understand that there are many ways to serve and be productive to give life meaning outside of elective office.

The remaining are Cindy’s words, unedited.

Open Letter about the Campaign,

Dear Supporters, friends, and foes:

So, it’s been a little over two weeks since election day and I’ve decided to address the question I keep getting asked – “how are you?”

Well, the short answer is – great. No seriously, great.

…waiting for the disbelief, shock and disappointment (by some, I know) to pass…

Now to more fully answer:

First – to those who don’t know – I lost. Yes, I get that question often – “did you win?” Probably the single worst question to ask a losing candidate. But I know it’s usually asked with the best of intentions. No – I lost. I came in third in a three candidate race. I earned 25.25% (6,151) of the votes. My opponents, Coker and Hayes, earned 46.78% (11,393) and 27.97% (6,812) respectively. And those numbers are a small part of why I’m great. Let me break it down.

In order to win a three candidate race without a run-off, a candidate must win 50% of the vote plus one. In this race, that turns out to mean that one of us needed 12,179 votes to win outright (Total Votes (24,356)/2 +1). If no one gets that (like this time – highest vote getter was Coker at 11,393) then the top two go into a run off with the winner being elected on July 26th.

So Coker, having just missed winning outright by less than 1000 votes, is in a runoff with Hayes, who edged me out by 661 votes.

First of all let me put this out there. I plan to do an entirely different post (that is more easily shared and specific to this race) but I 100% endorse, support and am campaigning on behalf of Benjamin Coker. Just because I’m out of the race, doesn’t mean it is any less important to me. I have worked with both men and cannot scream my support for Ben any louder. Again – more on that soon.

But back to me.. since this is my post about how great I’m doing, remember. 🙂

Having earned only 25% of the vote with another candidate having earned nearly the 50%+1 required to win makes me thankful I’m not in a runoff. Overcoming that deficit would be very difficult and a run off means 2 more months of campaigning and lots more money, just to likely lose anyway. I’m glad I don’t have to do that. Obviously I wanted to win, but the numbers tell me that even if I had come in second with 27% of the vote, I likely would not win at the end of the day.

So how can I be doing so great having spent 6+ months of my life, my family’s life, my emotion, my money and my spirit into this race and them coming short by 661 votes (or realistically by 6,028 votes – the amount I would have needed to actually win)?

Because it was truly an awesome experience that I do not regret in the least. First off all, I’m blessed to be able to return to my “job”, my firm, that is doing great (if a bit backlogged due to my hiatus) and really an amazingly enjoyable place to work thanks to Holly Peace and Carly Morgan along with great clients.
This is what I do..

You see, I was raised to be a bit of a restless spirit. My father, who passed away in February of this year, was what I would call a serial entrepreneur. Now, to be fair, our relationship was complicated at the end of his life due to him suffering from depression and other conditions, but I learned so much growing up as his daughter. In just my lifetime, he owned the following businesses: restaurant, night club, towing company, used car lot, hot dog restaurant, kids night club, shopping plaza on the beach, tattoo store, beach retail shop, farm, airport, avionics company, 300 unit rental apartments, and finally campground with marina. In just my lifetime, he lived in Minnesota, Oregon, Panama City, Florida, upstate New York, Tennessee and finally Missouri. He was also a firefighter and police officer in the midst of all of this.

He LOVED new opportunities and learned something from each of them. He had strong views on business and investments and there were lots of “lessons” at the dinner table. Most of his businesses were successful but many failed, and failed miserably! One of the biggest lessons I learned was that when something doesn’t work, move on. No shame in trying and failing. But life is sure boring if you don’t try.

So I tried. I thought it would be amazing to serve our community as District Attorney. I felt I had the experience and skills. The voters didn’t agree. So be it. Moving on. The best news is that I’ve already sat down with Benjamin Coker and know that if (when!) he’s elected many of my ideas will be heard. We agree on so much already and I know he will have an open mind about the ideas he hasn’t considered yet.

I had a great time campaigning. It was fun. A great opportunity to do something different for a little while. I met some AMAZING people – I’ve already been hired by a women I met in the final weeks of the campaign when I knocked on her door. I’m sure no one will believe me when I say this, but I honestly do not regret it a bit, even considering the result.

Now I get to go back to my awesome firm, with an awesome family, awesome life, awesome friends. Really – not just the “on facebook my life is awesome” situation. I truly am blessed in real life. No, it’s not perfect and we have our challenges, but god has given me more than my share of love, happiness, opportunity, family, health and faith. I am truly grateful.

And I move on. To the next big thing. Building the best law firm in Fayette & Coweta Counties with my best friend, who is finally a lawyer (soon to be licensed) and a great staff.

I really am great.
Seriously.

With love,
Cindy Manning