Dirty and Hairy but hardly heading for the showers

Last night I reviewed some of the response to my decision to drop out of the US House race and seek the state House seat in District 9.

The Great Plains Observer posts on One of the Shortest Campaigns in History with the leading line "wow that was quick."  Badlands Blue posts "HICKEY: Whoops! Wrong House seat." Republic Insider posts on "The Six Day Candidacy and other oddities of South Dakota's 2010 Campaign Season."  Actually Seth, it was seven days. David Montgomery's headline at the Capital Journal in Pierre was "That was fast."  Constant Conservative says "Hickey Changes His Mind on Race Against Herseth Sandlin." The South DaCola headline is "Jesus wasn't a quitter, Steveo".  All things considered, reactions were mainly generous and no rocks were in the mud thrown.

And the quitter label didn't stick. Twenty-five years ago I was an offensive lineman and in my book it's not quitting if you get out of the way so your team can score. To me this is a team sport and yesterday I simply passed the ball to Kristi Noem who has a better shot. It's hardly the case that I walked off the field and headed for the showers. I'm out here eating dirt so WE can score.

Through the mud on my face I did break out a smile this morning reading Madville Times - Top Ten Reasons Steve Hickey Dropped Out of the House Race. Cory starts off with #10… "Campaign advisers insisted Hickey would have to shave, just like the other two men in the race. A man of principle, Pastor Hickey said it wasn't worth it."  Funny thing is that I was told by a number of politicos that the goat has to go.  For the record, I held my ground despite experts telling me old ladies who would otherwise vote for me wouldn't because they don't trust men hiding behind something.  And on a related note, there is this from a "fan"… honestly, part of me wanted to stay in just to see how that blog developed.