I just received an e-mail from the Ken Gordon campaign.

The Associated Press called yesterday and said that there weren’t enough votes left to change the outcome of the race. It appears that Mike Coffman will be Colorado’s next Secretary of State.

Ken ran a hard and positive campaign. He didn’t take campaign contributions from political action committees. He didn’t run negative ads. Mike Coffman had a lot of name recognition, particularly in my view, from his volunteering to go to Iraq.

Ken received 49% of the vote. But what about all those voter problems (as Jason wrote about today.) Ken says:

The Senate Democratic Caucus has honored me by electing me to be the Majority Leader for the next two years. That is a place where I will be able to work on election issues, as well as other interests such as protecting the environment and education.

Mike Coffman and I have already discussed working on election issues together. I think it will be a good thing for the confidence of voters that election issues be handled in a bipartisan manner.

Ken is not retiring from public service.

I am not done with my public life, and the young people who participated in the campaign will also be active for years to come. None of us have become cynical. We are all still optimistic and idealistic. When all is said and done, I’m proud of the campaign. I believe we did something good.