REACTION: Democrat concedes, offers optimism for the future

INDIANAPOLIS -- Election night was not the night Indiana Democrats were hoping for, as Republicans decisively swept all but one statewide office. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan lost to Republican Mitch Daniels by nine points in the most expensive and one of the tightest gubernatorial races in Indiana history.\nKernan led Daniels in early voting returns, but Tuesday night's ending results -- 54 percent for Daniels, 45 percent for Kernan and 1 percent for Libertarian Kenn Gividen, with 92 percent of precincts reporting -- proved a clear victory for Daniels in his first run for public office.\nIf he had won, it would have been Kernan's first elected term to the office as governor. He previously served as the state's lieutenant governor and succeeded former Gov. Frank O'Bannon in September 2003 when O'Bannon suffered a sudden, massive stroke.\nKernan conceded defeat a little after 10 p.m. at The Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. Democrats smiled for the camera and chanted "Joe! Joe! Joe!" as the governor entered, but a sense of loss and disappointment fell over the crowd. Some were in tears; others consoled.\nLooking to break the ice to broken supporters, Kernan opened with self-deprecating humor.\n"So, what's new?" he joked.\nHe began his concession speech by saying he had already placed a phone call to Daniels, Indiana's new governor-elect.\n"I congratulated him on a race well-run and to commit to him that Kathy Davis and I and everyone in Indiana state government would fully cooperate in this transition," Kernan said. "We will do everything we can to turn state government over in the best shape possible."\nKernan said going into Tuesday's election, he was ready to accept the verdict of Hoosier voters. \n"I have said over the course of the last couple of weeks that on the second of November, the people of Indiana were going to make a decision, that I would trust their decision, and I do," a conciliatory Kernan said.\nThe defeated governor praised Hoosiers for their commitment to the election and expressed satisfaction at the high turnout rate.\n"If the turnout numbers hold up to what we believe they will, the best part of this is that more people were engaged and more people participated in the process, and that is good for the process," Kernan said.\nFormer Indiana First Lady Judy O'Bannon spoke before Kernan and painted a positive message for disappointed supporters.\n"We've had some years where we've swept the decks, and other years when it's a little sparser," O'Bannon said. "One of the wonderful things about living in a representative democracy is that days that don't come out exactly how we want them are often followed by days that turned out the way we want,"\nO'Bannon said she was happy that, looking into the ballroom at The Westin, she didn't see a collection of only older volunteers. \n"I'm looking at the most capable, trained, caring and concerned young people," she said.\nA fair share of those young people was in attendance at Kernan's post-election party. Sarah Owen, a senior at Butler University and president of the Butler College Democrats, was anxious and distraught.\n"The race was extremely tight," Owen said. "There will be a huge detriment to the state of Indiana if we elect a guy based on a slogan. And that's all Daniels is. Nothing but a slogan."\nSenior Mandy Carmichael, who was in Indianapolis in her capacity as president of the IU College Democrats, said that while the governor's race was a large disappointment to her, she valued the experience of working and campaigning for Kernan. \nShe said she is optimistic about Daniels serving as the state's governor and said she is willing to give him "the benefit of the doubt" in supporting him.\nOwen, however, was confident in the Democratic support and solidarity that will come under a Daniels administration.\n"We'll have to compromise to work with what's available to us. But we will keep Daniels in place," Owen said. "You'd better believe we will hold him to his promises come the 2008 election."\nIn the end, the Democratic leaders made efforts to reassure and comfort their faithful.\n"Don't put your head down and feel sad," O'Bannon said. "Sometimes you start the next campaign the day after the last one."\n"Stay involved, stay engaged, have your voices heard, continue to participate in all the meaningful ways that you have in all of the things that you do every day," Kernan said. "This is not a time to hang our heads and not a time to whine about what might have been. This is about tomorrow and the commitment we make to each other, not as Democrats, but as citizens to this wonderful place we call home."\nKernan said he did not know what he and his wife Maggie would do after he leaves office in January, adding only, "We go on from here."\n-- Contact senior writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.