Tomorrow, I will be blogging here and giving you the proper thank you that you deserve. Tonight, the words are hard to come by....so I hope you can forgive me for taking an extra day to show you the full attention that members of dKos are deserving of.
Below the break is the message I have left on my website. Know that it was written with you in mind, and I will speak with you all tomorrow!
To all of my friends in the internet community, I wanted to take a moment to say 'thank you'. I started this campaign last August, and without the help of the internet and the blogosphere, we would have never had such an amazing run.
The love I felt daily from all of you inspired me. You gave me hope and you made my campaign better with each passing moment. The ballot box tells me I lost, but I have never felt like more of a winner in my life.
Today, the e-mails began to stream in. My family and I are truly blessed to have your support, and I hope that you know that your efforts will be part of Chapter One in the book of how campaigns will be run in the future.
To all those who contributed to my campaign, my heartfelt thanks go out to you. Without you, I would have gone nowhere. Today, I can stand proud and proclaim that we took on a 32-year incumbent and we gave him the hardest run of his career. But my greatest admiration goes out to the multitude of people who uprooted their lives to move here and work towards my election. I am still in awe over your dedication. From my amazing Communications Director (first one to arrive in Canton, last one to leave) to all my volunteers for the final 5 days, you will forever be in my thoughts. Thank you.
Last night, I walked down to the Republican Party's celebration and personally congratulated Congressman Ralph Regula. As always, he was gracious and we traded a few smiles in our conversation. I promised him we'd meet again in 2006, and he said he looks forward to that race.
Also last night, I told a packed room of my supporters that we will not stop fighting until the fight has been won. That was not just another campaign speech. I will continue the fight, and I urge you to join me.
See you in '06,
Jeff Seemann
P.S. If you would like to send your greetings, I'd love to hear from you - e-mail me at jeff@jeffseemannforcongress.com