First of all, I would like to thank each and every one of the volunteers that helped to make this campaign possible!!!  Without you, we are nothing more than an afterthought in Nevada politics.  With you, the sky is the limit, so we live to fight another day.  We managed to get over 7000 votes statewide, and by no means was that enough to win the day, but I still think it represents an important "swing" vote in the general election fight forthcoming between Congressman Heller and Jill Derby.  Our thoughts and issues will still need to be addressed by one of those candidates.  

It was more votes than Kenneth Wegner obtained to WIN Congressional District One.

I want to leave all of you with two thoughts.  The first is, although I like more of what Congressman Heller stands for than Jill Derby, I will be withholding any endorsement pending a promised conversation between myself and the Congressman.  This promise was made to me by the Congressman when we met at the Washoe County Republican office last week, and I look forward to that conversation at the earliest convenience of Mr. Heller.  This should not be read as a threat, simply a call for the Congressman to keep a promise.

The second thought is this...stay engaged in the process and keep working toward the day when Constitutional ideals are once again the status quo within the Republican Party, not the fringe element.  Stay engaged in the process...I am attending the Churchill County Central Committee meeting today and the Stillwater Firearms Association meeting tonight, so my schedule stays busy and I will stay active.  It took nearly 30 years from Robert Taft running for and not winning the Republican nomination in 1952 to Ronald Reagan running for and winning the Presidency in 1980.  The more of us that stay engaged in the process, the better equipped we will be in two years and in the future to take our party back!!

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes, and it is something I said to anyone who would ask why I would run against an incumbent Congressman.  It is Phyllis Schlafly stating "we need a choice, not an echo."  I regret nothing in my decision to run, and would do so again if faced with the same circumstances.  

Thank you again ever so much for your support and well wishes!!  

James Smack