Post-mayoral election debriefing dinner, with a surprise guest.

The Friday after the mayoral election, the local field office that I campaigned out of had a "debriefing" dinner to thank and hear from people who spent time getting-out-the-vote for the defeated candidate...

And then the defeated candidate showed up.

"CHOO-EY, CHOO-EY, CHOO-EY!" everyone chanted as he and his wife came in, and then again after he gave a speech and hung out a while and was going to leave.

Overall, he was very honestly positive, and pointed out now only how progressive aldermen won more seats this election and the size of the caucus grew, but also that these aldermen were from all sides of the city, and represented a truly multi-racial and multi-ethnic coalition.

He briefly mentioned the struggle against attack ads, and how they ran out in front of him to paint him as incompetent - and when he said this, you could see he was used to such things and honestly did not give a shit.

Then, came the only moment when he seemed to get a bit personal, and he even gloated.

"So the mayor is such a financial wizard," he was like.  "I'm looking forward to see what he does with that budget."

You could honestly tell he's been in government so long and knows that something is f*cked, and he was not only glad that it was off his plate, but that fallout for it would fall on someone so horrendously deserving.

I'm really looking forward to what comes of these connections.  From just that one local field office - and there were 10-12 in the race, I think? - around 50 people showed up to debrief and think about what's next.