*Thank you to everyone!*

Thank you to everyone who voted for us, marched in parades with us, contributed money, held visibility signs, attended house parties, stuffed envelopes, made calls, and did any of the other hundreds of things it took to make this a campaign.

For us, the results of the election were bittersweet. Naturally we wish we had received more votes. We ran the campaign we wanted to run. We ran it to win and with four main principles:

• Talk straight
• Don't be a third version of the other two<
• Exceed expectations
• Have fun

Those guiding principles served us well in everything we did:

• Peter's launch of the campaign with over 1000 people back in January - unbelievable for an Independent.
• Team Minnesota, including our terrific candidate baseball cards
• Our sumo wrestling parade unit
• The web site - not business as usual
• Indie - our mascot - loved everywhere in Minnesota
• The ads - the best on TV and YouTube - humorous with a message - not negative
• The 6800-mile, six-day Drive for Independence that got us to 220 cities across Greater Minnesota
• Detailed, fiscally responsible proposals on health care, education, transportation and the environment
• The debates - we kept winning - they kept ducking out

We are grateful to the tens of thousands of Minnesotans we have met as we have traveled thousands of miles - you changed our lives. You welcomed us into your homes, cafes, restaurants, church basements, community festivals, clubs, meetings, parades, and the State Fair.

You trusted us enough to tell us about your hopes and your fears about health care, education, transportation and the environment; and then you asked us to do something else. Over and over again you said - please donÕt forget us. We promised that we wouldn't - and we cannot. You are with us every day.

Those who were elected will have the opportunity to take a great state and make it greater. To them falls the mantle of leadership. We wish them well. May they use the opportunity to lead wisely - for the betterment of us all.

A Chance to Learn

As we close out the campaign, we are stepping back and learning from the experience. Here are a few lessons so far:

• Name recognition really matters - you can have the best team with the best ideas but people need to know who you are early on in the process.
• Bigger forces sometimes overwhelm everything - for many voters, national issues took prominence over statewide concerns.
• Nobody spoils things for anyone else; campaigns and candidates rise and fall on their own merits.
• Keep positive - nobody likes the negative tone that has become so commonplace in our politics today.
• Straight talk still beats political double talk any day.

The coming weeks and months create an important opportunity for us as individuals and the Independence Party as a whole to figure out how to convince more Minnesotans that Independence candidates offer the competent leadership that Minnesota needs. As such, there are more lessons to be learned. Please share any observations you have about the election, our campaign, and the future of independent-minded politics. We welcome any feedback Ð after all, feedback is the breakfast of champions. You can use the Contact Us to send us your thoughts.

Thanks again for all of your support and encouragement during this campaign. It was our honor to be part of it.

Peter, Maureen, John, Lucy, and Joel