To the editor:

The election of 2008 is now over, and I want to thank our Democratic candidates for an honorable, positive and well-run race.

Our candidates fought hard and brought up the issues that are important to the future of our county.

Many volunteers came out and got involved. They registered new voters, volunteered at party headquarters, made phone calls and many more important tasks.

To some extent the outcome of the election in the county was disappointing, but because of your hard work, we made many significant gains on the national and state levels.. Most importantly we stood for the Democratic Party.

I simply want to say that I thank you for your devotion, and I appreciate the effort each of you gave.

It saddens me that John Wheeler, chairman of the Republican Party and some of the far right did such negative campaigning against our candidates. They used the word morality strictly for political gain. There were statements made by John Wheeler, Jerry Butler and Dan Soucek about Sen. Steve Goss and Rep. Cullie Tarleton which were not true.

It is encouraging to know there are folks of all affiliation who can see through these politicians who are skilled at talking but fail to deliver the facts.

What a loss it would have been for the county if Sen. Goss and Rep. Tarleton had lost the election. They are the best and only representation Ashe County has had for many years.

The Ashe County Democratic Party has much to be proud of. We continue to be the party for the people. We believe in helping the less fortunate. We stress issues like poverty and health care. We will continue to fight for the issues we hold dear and for the people of Ashe County.

Melba Baldwin Jones

Ashe County Democratic Party Chair