You win some, you lose some

I represent Arizona's 6th congressional district in my legislative simulation class. My district comprises south east maricopa county, mainly Mesa and an obviously predominately conservative constituency.

We held elections for house and party officers today. I did not want to run for speaker of the house, that means more work, but I did want to run for republican party leader. 3 people ran for speaker and all gave a stump speech and I gave a speech at the same time. I did a really good job and asked not to be included in the vote for speaker. The two losers from that then ran along side me for party leader. The girl had 8 votes, I had 7 and my buddy Dan had four. They announced the girl the winner. Now, I didnt want to sound like a desperate, poor loser but I think a run off would have been appropriate. More people did not vote for the girl than those who did. And, since me and Dan are buddies, most of his votes, I predict, would have gone to me. Im sure I would have won in a run off. I conceded though and still had the opportunity to run for party whip. But seeing as how Dan had run for speaker and party leader and got third in both I felt kind of bad for him because I knew how much he really wanted to be involved so I let him have it uncontested.

Thoughts: I believe I could have ran for speaker and won soley on a good campaign speech. I could have out campaigned, out smiled and out schmoozed all of them- and won. That kind of scares me. Scares me because I knew I didnt want it as much as them and also would not do as good of a job as them (not because of ability but because of interest and dedication) But I could have got it anyway... hmm.

Tonight we had a ward Family Home Evening. We had a bake off. I found out this afternoon so I didnt have much time to prepare. I decided to go with a classic, No-bake Cookies. we were supposed to put our apartment number on a sign next to them. As I looked down the table I noticed chicken scratch scribbles of apartments on pieces of paper. Perhaps it was my loss earlier in the day that motivated me to step up my game a bit, but my sign was neatly drawn on folded peice of paper like a placecard. I changed the name from no-bakes to English Pub Cookies with Elizebeth Bourbon Concentrate (thats not true but its marketing. I could name my kid Laquisha and she doesnt have to be black, right?) When people asked if it really had bourbon in it I said that it was a secret recipe and I was not at liberty to discuss it. I encouraged people to vote, not for me necesaily but the personal contact surely helped in their decision. Needless to say I won first place. Now honsestly, you cant tell me I dont know how to run an effective campain. I mean seriously, who wins a BAKE off with NO-BAKE cookies.

Lessons of a monday.