As we celebrate our victories these days, I found it difficult at the same time not to feel a little mournful for all of the great candidates we found to contest races all over the country who lost their races.  Over the last few months, I've come to have a lot of loyalty and emotion invested in them, and it's hard not to feel a little down for all of those who lost.

Then I realized that was a ridiculous and defeatist outlook to take.  These courageous men and women, even if they are not now headed to Congress, are just as much part of the 50-state strategy team as those who won.  People like Joe Courtney or Patrick Murphy wouldn't have won their close races without their help, and unexpected victors like Nancy Boyda and Harry Mitchell probably wouldn't have had a chance if the Republican machine hadn't already been stretched to the breaking point.

So here's my invitation: use this thread to cheer our 50-state strategy heroes -- people like Scott Kleeb, Gary Trauner, and Larry Grant who fought the good fight this year even if they didn't win it for themselves.  Without them, we wouldn't have won this election, and let's celebrate the ways they poked sticks in the eyes of the national Republicans.  Take this chance to give a shout out for your favorites, and throw off the feeling that they somehow "lost."

Not a bit of it!  We win or lose as a team, and we won.  These people are all heroes.

Here's mine to start off: Fighting Dem Jay Fawcett, in CO-05, was way behind the lines.  In a district Bush took with 66% in 2004, Fawcett endured vandalized offices and repeated death threats, and took on the Club for Growth, the House Conservatives Fund, the NRCC, and Dick Cheney with only about $400,000 total fundraising before the DCCC finally took notice (in mid-October).  Go Jay Fawcett!