My sincerest congratulations to a person I am proud to call a friend of mine Paul Lang who ran in PA-06 in Bucks County for State Senate against incumbent Tommy Tomlinson.
Paul received 41,896 votes which, unfortunately, was 46.5% to Tomlinson’s 48,146/53.5%. But Paul did this on his own on his own terms without the help of big time PA Dems the Hoagiemeister Ed Rendell and Philly kingmaker Sen. Vince Fumo. They stayed out of the race to curry political favor in case the powerful longtime incumbent Tomlinson won.
I got emails from him with updates and voicemails in between events during his busy schedule. He was always upbeat even when bad news came down the pipe relating to Harrisburg. He had to have been tired with such a crazy schedule, but I knew he was pounding the pavement day in and day out mashing hands with a smile on his face. At 29, just a few years my senior, he’s a role model and a person I know will stay involved in this nasty political game one way or another; he wants to do good.
I know that there are tons of people just like Paul all around the country. People who ran for the first time for one reason or another. People who have been involved in politics for years and some newbies. These are the people, our peers, who will be the decision makers of tomorrow. Some of them were fortunate and won, others lost, but an initial loss cannot mean the end. I remain optimistic because of people like Paul and the others around the country like Paul whom I know must exist.
Now to scrounge up a few bucks and get his ass downtown so I can buy his ass a beer, he’s earned it.
One more thing: Photo by me. I took Paul’s engagement photos last year and also some shots for usage during the campaign. I don’t think he ended up using this shot, but I really like it.
