Dear Friends,

A big thank you to all our family, friends and supporters of which there were many.

Together we had the best, truly grassroots effort in the county, as we managed without any big party money to get 56,000 people to vote for us.  This is after our opponent headed into the general election with a 2 to 1 lead of 40,000 to 20,000 primary votes.  You folks generated an extra 36,000 voters compared to our opponent’s extra 26,000 voters.  Unfortunately this could not make up for the difference in voter primary turnout as the tidal wave of the country was too vast and there are no second places in elections!

But I am so proud to have the kind of friends, family and supporters who could turn out that many votes for the person you believed in! Think of it, folks, Our total vote count is five times the vote  of any local senate or rep seat! Our District is five times the size of those races and with none of the resources invested into those types of races you did an amazing job!

Dean and I are so thankful for your help, love, and support. I am as always humbled that all of you invested time, money and effort into my dream and future and the future of our country and I am sorry that this time that investment did not work out. But the sun comes up another day and the things that are truly important in anyone’s well-lived life, one’s friends and family are still with me and at the end of the day that makes me truly blessed. Thank you all again and have a wonderful, healthy and happy holiday season.

Love,
Laura

(This is third in a series of our new feature; Alex’s Blog. Alex is a 17 year old senior at Maine South High School and welcomes comments and feedback not just on campaigns but on the best college campuses, and recommendations for good local bands, musicians (particularly drummers and punk rock) as well as all aspects of skateboarding culture!)

This past weekend, I worked the Taste of Park Ridge for my mom. Even while working it was really fun. There was lots of stuff to do, good food, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

On Friday, my friend volunteered with me and enjoyed it even though we were put onto garbage duty. I did clean up on Saturday as well. On both days, the vibrant bright shirts that read “Elect Laura Morask” were everywhere. The volunteers who wore them were very helpful. They were cleaning up tables, getting garbage off the ground, emptying overflowing cans, and helping people in general.

While I was working, random people would compliment us on the work we were doing and give us tickets for food and drinks. I think the work the volunteers did was noticed heavily by the public. My mom also came to the taste all three nights to chat with people. It seemed like a lot of people seemed to notice her. The taste was a lot of fun and really good for the campaign.

My mom and I went to march in the Arlington Heights parade with some volunteers that were helping us out. As we went down the streets, people enthusiastically cheered Laura while we passed out the candy and conversed with the crowd. There were as many as up to 10 people that knew Laura personally and came to give her a hug on the street while she was marching in the parade.

Thinking we had enough candy we were generous as we passed through the huge crowds. But we had no idea how huge and popular the Arlington Heights parade actually was and ran out before the end. This crowd was so great as we walked large groups of kids and their parents would start chanting “elect Laura”! We all felt terrible for the kids on the second half of the parade but they were troopers and equally enthusiastically (well, maybe not quite…) collected our business cards and fliers. I remembered from my youth that kids just like to collect anything-but of course candy is far better than stickers or business cards so in between parades our volunteer crew ran to Sam’s Club and restocked with 15 more pounds for the next parade!

Although We ran out of candy to pass out quickly because of the large amount of people there but we made the most out of what little we had left when the crowd starting chanting “Laura!” for the candy. I believe that the Arlington Heights parade was a very large success and it was also a lot of fun. We also appeared at the Mount Prospect parade as well. This time we had much more candy to give out and went down the streets with more volunteers, a pick up truck with speakers playing the beach boys, and a shiny red Chevy Camaro. Again, the crowd was very kind and energetic. Some people knew Laura personally and some were yelling about seeing her on T.V. The Mount Prospect Parade was a great time and was very good for the
campaign.

The featured guest speaker was Cook County Republican Committeeman Lee Roupas whose energy and enthusiasm set the tone of the morning.

Before each candidate spoke, different subjects were discussed including generating enthusiasm for the ticket, reaching undecided voters, and the current logjam in Springfield under the Democrats. Eventually each candidate spoke about who they were, what their background was, and why they should be elected/ what they would do if they were elected. They were interesting and persuasive, as they explained their current situations to the audience.

The group was very responsive to the candidates.

Christine Prochno, candidate for State Senate introduced a new food drive for the soldiers who are still fighting in Iraq for the Fourth of July. Local Dignitaries including Mayor Craig Johnson of Elk Grove Villiage and Mayor Irvana Wilks of Mt. Prospect enthusiastically started off the food drive by contributing as did everyone else in the room. Over $300.00 was raised to send Pizzas to the soldiers for the 4th.

Laura Morask received a big round of applause as she explained her background, the importance of electing good judges, and the situation in the local and federal judicial system.

Each candidate was given a table to display their literature, signs, or volunteer cards. I was in charge of my mom’s table and after her speech many people came up wanting to chat with her and we signed up many new volunteers.

Next on our upcoming agenda we will be in two different July 4th parades and the ever popular Taste of Park Ridge.