Rivers will go back to Washington for 3rd term

Amidst Irish folk music and a host of Democratic candidates, 13th District incumbent U.S. Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Ann Arbor) accepted her third victory.

"This was a team effort," Rivers said during her acceptance speech at Conor O'Neill's Irish pub located on Main Street. "At the beginning, things looked very bleak ... the other side had a lot more money."

As of 1:30 a.m. with 81 of 145 precincts in Washtenaw County reporting, Rivers topped Republican challenger Tom Hickey with 67.58 percent to Hickey's 30.84 percent of the vote.

Entering a conference room at the Double Tree Hotel in Romulus to the theme of "Rocky," Hickey jokingly began his 11:45 p.m. concession speech by asking "So how was your day?"

ADRIANA YUGOVICH/Daily Democratic incumbent Lynn Rivers maintained her position as 13th District representative with a landslide victory last night.

Hickey, a medical distributor business owner, gracefully thanked his family and numerous supporters who stayed to hear his concession speech.

"We all can leave with our heads high and our chest out," Hickey said.

Supporters said the lack of mudslinging in River's campaign was refreshing during the election season.

"I think the campaign was clean until last week," said RC junior Elizabeth Emerson, a member of the University's chapter of the College Democrats. Emerson added that the only negative campaigning appeared shortly after a campus debate between Hickey and Rivers.

Hickey said he was proud of his campaign team, noting its reputation as one of the best campaign teams in the state.

Both Hickey and his campaign manager Patrick Rosenstiel agreed the campaign was positive with a "discussion of issues" as the focus.

After spending close to $300,000 and thousands of hours mailing, calling and putting up signs, Rosenstiel simply said when it was clear Rivers was the winner - "We gave it all we got."

Rivers attributed Hickey's loss to his inability to "receive support across the district."

"The Republican State Party put a lot of money into this race," Rivers said. "He wasn't able to raise money in the district, and that reflects the views of the voters."

Barb Fuller, Rivers' campaign manager, said the incumbent's ability to relate to students resulted from her own experience of returning to school and raising a family at the age of 21.

"She returned pop bottles to buy milk for her babies," Fuller said. "She's never forgotten that. She really understands what it's like to live on shoestring."

Social Security and the spending of the national budget surplus became the most prominently debated issue during the election, Fuller said.

Hickey "tried to misrepresent what she was doing with social security," Fuller said.

River's supporter Erik Stalhandske said he backed the candidate because of "where she came from, and what she's made of herself."

"She has a strong support of education, and she keeps in touch with the district," said Stalhandske, an Ann Arbor resident.

Hickey's best friend of 15 years Tom Stillings walked to the podium and said, "values did not prevail," in reference to Rivers. Continuing his good sportsmanship throughout the night, Hickey stopped his friend from finishing his statements.

Hickey, whose campaign focused on family values, education and crime, received a great deal of attention from the National Republican Party because of his method of using more high school volunteers instead of adult volunteers.

Plymouth-Salem High School sophomore Kris Schimmelpfenneg is partly responsible for recruiting more than 50 student volunteers for Hickey's campaign.

"We knew Tom had a tougher race, so we tried to get as many volunteers as possible," Schimmelpfenneg said. "We got them involved, and we are trying to keep them involved."

The many people supporting Hickey yesterday said the future is still bright for this business executive.

"There is life after election night," Hickey said, adding he is unsure of his political plans for the future, but said "Never say never."

11-04-98