What a wonderful turnout and event! Flying in the face of the current talk of the difficulty of getting folks down to the Power and Light District we had an overflow crowd of supporters for our kickoff fund raiser. Our heartfelt thanks go to Phil and LeeAnn Orscheln for hosting such a fantastic gathering. Their generosity and kindness made the evening.

Last Thursday, on a bitterly cold Kansas City evening with ice still here and there on the area roads, supporters trekked to an unfamiliar area and paid their own parking, walking through the frigid landscape to join with our campaign at Vinino Italian Restaurant at 1320 Grand. We had 95 contributors join in and have a great time at the wine tasting enjoying the uniquely delicious hors d’ouevres the master chef prepared. It was such an encouragement to realize they all turned out because they believe in our candidacy – on such a night we were the only draw. Wow!

We are so grateful to our generous Grand Cru sponsors, Ann Dickinson, John and Kelly Murphy, and Scott and Beverly Shane.

Our deep appreciation also goes to our Private Reserve sponsors, Wayne and Chris Cooper, Bud and Betty Hertzog, and Gale and Mary Oleson.

Our warm thanks is sent out to our Select sponsors, Karl Blumenhorst, Bob Brown, Don and Leila Cohoon, Bunk and Diane Farrington, Dreyfus and Marie Froe, Doug Herriott, Berry Jennings, Jon and Jackie Kreker, and Bill and Carol Lewis.

Lastly, it touched Donna and my hearts that so many of the folks took time from their busy lives to reach out to us with encouragement and support. We are blessed.

After an evening of fun and fellowship, my friend, Sonny Gibson, introduced me and brought tears to my eyes with his poignant remarks on our friendship. I was able to garner even more support with my remarks by keeping them brief. All in all, our candidacy is standing tall on the efforts of all involved in the last election and we are well positioned to benefit from the change in the political winds blowing through the district. This is our time.

Politics must change. We are the change.

What a time to be running for political office – the winds of change are blowing throughout our great country. The folks are fed up. In 2006 during our first run, voters wanted anybody but a Republican which led to a defeat of historic proportions for the Republican Party with the folks hoping that by giving power to the Democrats somehow the way our government did business would change. It did not work!

For those of you who still have our campaign card from 2006, look on the back at the last line – ‘Politics must change…We are the change.’ The basic message of our campaign has been and is that to change our representation for the better we have to change the type of people we send to Washington. As long we send career politicians, no change will occur. It is time to send regular folks to Congress starting here in the 5th District.

This is our time. We have the right candidate with the right message for this election. It is time to bring innovation, fresh thinking, the wisdom of regular folks to bear on the problems we face in this district, this country, this world. I ask that you join us and share your solutions, your piece of our collective wisdom. Together we will find the answers to the challenges which vex us.

As long as we keeping sending the same politicians to DC, we will get the same results.

Today is our day, let’s go!