Editorial: No bitter aftertaste from this campaign

Saturday, Nov. 11, 2000 | 3:48 a.m.

Normally after an election the last thing congressional candidates want to do is sit down and chat with their opponents. That is what is so remarkable -- and refreshing -- about the aftermath of the race for Nevada's 2nd District House seat. Reno schoolteacher Tierney Cahill, the losing Democratic candidate, invited her successful rival, Republican Jim Gibbons, to attend her class on Wednesday. The incumbent congressman said it was the first time he's been invited to spend part of the day after an election with his opponent. "It is something that is unusual," Gibbons said. "But I think it speaks highly of her." We couldn't agree more.

For that matter, accepting an invitation to meet with his rival says something about Gibbons, too. After all, incumbents who win in a landslide -- as Gibbons did -- usually don't find much political benefit in meeting with a vanquished opponent. It was nice to see the two, who rarely agreed on the issues, get together and talk amicably after the campaign. This is quite a contrast to the partisan sniping that goes on in Washington, which poisons the atmosphere there.

Cahill's bid for public office wasn't the usual tale of political ambition. Earlier this year, during a discussion in her class about the roots of democracy, a student said people can't run for office unless they are millionaires. Cahill wanted to show her sixth grade class that wasn't the case, so she ran for Congress. Her campaign was run on a shoestring budget -- she spent just $7,000 compared to Gibbons' $500,000. And she only captured 30 percent of the vote, but Cahill instructed her class well on how to act -- even in defeat. Now if we could just get the rest of the candidates in the nation to follow the example of civility set by Cahill and Gibbons ...

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