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Mike Kelly, sports metaphor machine

Mike Kelly, sports metaphor machine

BUTLER—Before he was a Republican congressional candidate for the GOP, Mike Kelly played football.

In his youth, Kelly played fullback for the Center Township Rams—a team in the Butler Midget Football League that Kelly, who won the party’s nomination in the 3rd District Tuesday night, would later coach. The fullback-turned-tackle was named to several all-conference and all-state teams. He still serves on local sports league committees, and in 1999 he was inducted into the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame. Kelly still has the glint of a coach in his eye—so it’s not surprise that sports metaphors never really stop flowing when Kelly is talking.

“That’s my life,” he said during a victory party here. “Football’s a great game because it does teach you about life.

“You really can’t quit,” Kelly said. “You’ve got to leave it all on the field. You have to crawl off the field. If you’re not crawling off the field, it means you didn’t give enough. In my lifetime, what I’ve found out is that people say they like to win, but I don’t think it’s about liking to win. It’s how much you hate losing. If you hate losing, you’ll do anything to not lose. The result, usually, is that you win. But it’s the hating the losing that makes a difference. It’s not about liking to win, because everyone loves to win. But what are you willing to do not to lose?”

Kelly said his interactions with felled primary opponent Paul Huber would be like a post-game handshake.

“We fought really hard,” Kelly said. “We did everything we could. He tried to knock my head off, I tried to knock his head off, but at the end of the game, you shake hands and say ‘great battle.’”

Two hours north in Erie, Huber delivered a somber concession speech.

“Unfortunately we’ve come up just short, and I can’t celebrate a victory, but you should all be proud of the effort that went into this race and your willingness to make a difference,” Huber said. “I especially want to thank my family for their support and encouragement because it’s been a nine-month drive for us, and without their help and support I couldn’t have done it.”

Sara Toth reported from Butler and Jackie Oesmann reported from Erie.

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May 19, 2010 at 3:02 pm

--Jackie Oesmann and Sara Toth

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  1. Farmer_Ted

    May 19th, 2010

    Go Mike Kelly!!! He will give America back to it’s righful owners, us, the tax paying citizens. This Kathy clown is an obama storm trooper who only cares about herself. You want real “change?” Vote for Mike Kelly this October!!!

  2. John Taylor

    May 19th, 2010

    Kelly won fair and square. He was outspent two-to-one, but he still managed to connect with the voters. He is pro-life, pro-free enterprise, pro-second amendment, and pro-taxpayer. It is clear that he is politically independent, unlike Rep. Dahlkemper, who votes with Pelosi 94% of the time.

  3. Brett

    May 19th, 2010

    Frauline Dahilkemper will lose, bring on the strudel and celebrate.

  4. bob

    May 19th, 2010

    Yeah, Mike Kelly…see, here’s my problem.

    Mike wants to rail against federal spending and yet his car dealership benefited from Cash for Clunkers. Asked about the program, Kelly said that it served short-term selfish interests but was probably not in the national interest.

    So given an opportunity to make a choice between serving his own interests and the national interest, Mike Kelly chose his own, participating in a program that he described as not being in the national interest.

    Mike’s also been on the Redevelopment board in Butler and anyone who lives in Butler would love to finally see some redevelopment instead of the rampant drug infestation, crumbling inner city communities, and network of good ol’ boys who have governed the county and city to suit their own personal ambitions rather than the citizens here.

    It’s all well and good for Mike to gloss his business career with the faded tales of his football glory days, but that doesn’t mean much to voters.

  5. Right Wing Guy

    May 20th, 2010

    Bob, get over it.

  6. Anonymous

    May 20th, 2010

    Let’s set the record straight.

    Bob is clearly a Dahlkemper camp member and not from Butler. Otherwise Bob would know that the redevelopment authority has worked to restore a ball-park and is now spearheading the redevelopment of downtown Butler with a new mixed-use project on main street.

    Bob also doesn’t understand how Cash for Clunkers worked. The Democrats passed the program and changed the marketplace by offering consumers cash to trade in their cars. Tax payer dollars (cash) went to consumers for trading in their cars, not the dealers, the dealers didn’t get one penny of that money…NOT ONE PENNY.
    In fact the government made the DEALERS pay the cash subsidy OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKET to the consumers and then FAILED TO REIMBURSE the dealers for months and months, and consequently a few WENT OUT OF BUSINESS.
    The customers got the subsidy, not the dealers. The dealers didn’t vote for the program. They didn’t have any say in it whatsoever. The dealers are in the business of selling cars. The cars dealers sold are cars they would have sold anyway; the cars just sold sooner because the Democrats offered to pay consumers to start buying. Look at the numbers and you’ll see that overall the car dealers sold about the same number of cars on average that they would have sold without the program. So, no benefit to the dealers.

  7. flynnbw

    May 20th, 2010

    The GOP erred by not nominating someone from Erie – the main population base of the district.

  8. Bull

    May 20th, 2010

    Regardless, we need to all get behind Mike and send Dahlkemper packing.

  9. Farmer_Ted

    May 20th, 2010

    I agree with Bull, and not one of Klown Kathy’s storm troopers in Bob. mike Kelly is definetly the right choice for Western Pa. He would of never had voted for that Health Care bill that clown voted for. he won’t vote for cap and tax. He won’t vote banking reform that does nothing but cut the small man’s profits and does nothing to address the crooks on Wall Street. But Klown Kathy was handsomely paid for her Health Care vote. She has received 1.6 million dollars over the last 2 years for her campaign. You want to talk status quo?? Look at that obuma storm trooper Klown Kathy. How many business’ has she bought into Western Pa?? ZERO. She isn’t about change, Mike Kelly is.

  10. Steve Fisher

    May 20th, 2010

    As one of Mike’s opponents in the campaign, I congratulate him on his victory. We tried to run a grassroots campaign and came up quite short. However, I am now wishing Mike the best in his campaign to defeat Dahlkemper. If that was the goal that all six of us had, we must now help Mike achieve that goal. Those who choose not to help may be sending the message that their real goal was for more of a personal gain and not one for the party or the country. I would have preferred to be the one running, but the voters chose Mike. As a District, we must now come together if we want to see a Republican take the seat in Washington.

  11. Elaine

    May 20th, 2010

    I agree with Steve that we all need to come together now to defeat Dahlkemper! Unfortunately reading other comments on other pages it seems more of a personal issue that their candidate did not win instead of coming together to face the real issue. So many people on Huber’s and Grabb’s facebook page talk about writing their picked candidates name in the November election, which won’t solve anything and will give Dahlkemper a win. I hope by November everyone will come to their senses and look at the real problem.

  12. Farmer_Ted

    May 20th, 2010

    Steve,

    You are a real American who care. A class act.

    Farmer

  13. Dee

    May 20th, 2010

    I guess you have to go into the general election with the candidate you have–not the candidate you might want or wish to have…

    I thank Mr. Fisher and all the others for stepping up and putting themselves out there. Many whine and moan about Congress, but few are willing to take that step.

  14. Brian Boru

    May 21st, 2010

    Steve Fisher and Ed Franz ran classy, appealing campaigns that offered voters excellent alternatives to the incumbent. Steve confirmed his commitment to the cause of limited government with his generous statement above. I also thank Fisher for having the gumption to run. If the other candidates really stand for what they claimed in the primary, they will get behind Kelly. Dahlkemper’s sock puppets can stick to defending her “rubber stamp” voting record.

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