I just want to say that I had great volunteers, and I can scarcely believe how hard you all worked. I also had wonderful supporters -- apparently just about 700 too few. I made a lot of new friends I would otherwise never have made and learned a lot I would otherwise never have learned. It was an uplifting experience, and I have no regrets.

There's a saying from Robert Maynard Hutchins that I have been reminded of frequently campaigning, and it's roughly this: "People are different. They are also the same. And at least in the present state of civilization, the ways in which they are the same are more important than the ways in which they are different." Unifying leadership remains what I think we need most.

Considering where we started from, it's amazing how far we came. Considering the blitz of spending and party propaganda that hit us in the last two weeks, we did very well indeed We'll wait to see how the landscape develops, but if 2009 looks like a better shot, we can try again with all the things we learned this time to help us.

Thank you very very much.

Yours sincerely,
Gilbert