Politico’ Illinois Playbook:
SEN. DICK DURBIN delivered the commencement address to Lake Forest College’s Class of 2026 during a ceremony Saturday at the Rosemont Theater, where he shared a story about advice given to him by Lynn Martin, a Republican congresswoman from Rockford and a member of George H.W. Bush’s Cabinet.
Her tip: “She made a practice of sending letters after elections to the losers, not the winners. She said, ‘The winners will never remember you reached out to them, but the losers will never forget,’” Durbin said, according to prepared remarks.
“I knew she was right, because I lost three elections before I finally won one, and I remember how I felt when I lost,” said Durbin, who started sending his own letters to Democrats and Republicans who lost. “I cannot tell you how many candidates told me later how much that letter meant.”
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That brought to mind the letter I received from U.S. Senator Chuck Percy after Roland Burris trounced me for State Comptroller in 19822.
I was in a holding pattern waiting for Jim Thompson’s folks to offer me a job in the bureaucracy when Percy’s letter arrived.
And Martin is correct.
I remember it.
