Even though Tom O'Donoghue (R) went down to crushing defeat in his bid to unseat James Moran (D) for the Eighth District of the U.S. House of Representative, it was not evident at his headquarters Tuesday night. The atmosphere among campaign staff, volunteers, supporters and even the candidate himself was that of a warm up for the future.
"The issues we talked about in this campaign are not going away. And, if they're there I'm going to be there," O'Donoghue told a cheering, clapping audience at his Arlington headquarters next to the 7-Eleven on Lee Highway.
"I'm not leaving. The process is enjoyable, especially talking about the issues. Obviously, I would have liked to get my message out more. I found that to be the hardest part," he said.
"It's very humbling to see people out there working for you who you don't even know. And, they all worked so hard," O'Donoghue said in thanking the crowd gathered before him.
One of the best indications that he intends to build upon this start is that, in his speech to the party loyalists Tuesday night, he never actually conceded the election to Moran even though he only received 36 percent of the vote compared to Moran's 67 percent.
There were also shouts from the audience, "Keep the signs." In answer to that plea O'Donoghue acknowledged that the last batch of signs did not designate a year as did the first group. As one supported told him, "I'm saving my signs and making the six into an eight starting tomorrow."
Standing on the small riser in his headquarters, O'Donoghue was joined by his wife Kathy as he thanked his campaign staff, volunteer workers and supporters. "Would you believe that today I finally got a decent picture published in the paper," he said to their delight.
His campaign manager, Bill Lockhart, assessed this initial effort as "going very well. We had a really good message and a lot of people are very frustrated with Moran." He also pointed out that O'Donoghue was the only Congressional candidate in the nation that had fought in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the 41-year-old O'Donoghue, also holds degrees from Boston University in International Relations, an MBA from Yale University, and a law degree from Georgetown University.
Buttressing the desire to run again, Lockhart said, as the first tallies began to trickle in, "If we are not successful tonight we'll do it again. Two years from now I fully expect Tom to be running for re-election or election."
As the 2006 election cycle drew to a close, the military veteran/lawyer from Kingstowne and his campaign staff were already assessing 2008. "Keep the signs" was the rallying cry of the night.
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