Not everyone can finish first in a race - or even second or third.
Someone has to bring up the rear, and that was the fate of Green Party candidate Norbert Kratchmer in Battlefords-Lloydminster Monday.
With 172 of 173 polls reporting, Kratchmer had 780 votes - just shy of the 944 that third-place Liberal Jordan LaPlante earned and well back of the totals of NDP Glenn Tait and the winner, Conservative incumbent MP Gerry Ritz.
Kratchmer had run twice before in the riding for the Green Party and was under no illusions going into this race, aware the odds were against him. Still, he had hoped for more votes. He wasn't able to match his 2008 total of 1,287 votes.
"I'm proud we got the people that we did," said Kratchmer of his vote total, in spite of the obstacles his campaign faced from the start.
Kratchmer's campaign mirrored the struggles for Green Party candidates and other long-shot campaigns across Canada - campaigns that had no chance of winning but which still did their best to offer supporters a choice at the ballot box.
The Green Party had little money to spend on an active campaign in the riding. Kratchmer said he ended up running an absolute bare-bones campaign with few signs or brochures.
"There was no pamphlets, nothing sent out," said Kratchmer. "I think I had 20 signs put up, I had no funding."
It was a stark contrast to the campaigns of Conservatives and NDP in the riding, both of which had bustling campaign offices with signs, literature and advertising blanketing the constituency.
A big issue for Kratchmer was the timing of the election. The untimely fall of the government in the House meant the election would run up against seeding activities on his organic farm operation near Reward outside of Unity.
"I'm focused on trying to get my seed ready, I'm trying to prepare equipment," he said. "I'm trying to do organic paperwork."
Kratchmer was forced to juggle the demands of his farm with the election campaign. As a result he wasn't able to travel around the riding as much as he would have liked, he said. He wasn't able to go to the schools, for example, to promote the Green message.
Still, he was able to make it to the Chamber of Commerce sponsored all candidates meetings in Lloydminster, North Battleford and closer to home in Unity before what he described as a packed Legion Hall. The candidate was accompanied by a small group of party faithful who wore campaign buttons and lent their support.
At those meetings Kratchmer spread his message against genetically-modified foods and seeds and for the banning of hormones. He pushed for food labeling so people know exactly what their food contains. He also spoke out against nuclear energy and on other Green issues that he says are close to his heart.
"The Green Party is closest to my ideals of organic farming and a sustainable future," said Kratchmer.
Kratchmer says he was particularly happy to inject some humor into his appearances at the forums. But he admits he was frustrated that neither Ritz nor Tait would go along entirely with all his ideas.
"I couldn't get through to those other two fellows. I tried hard, though," said Kratchmer.
Election night was much like the campaign itself for Kratchmer - a low key affair. While other campaigns spent their evenings at their campaign offices, Kratchmer spent election night at home, he said, watching the returns come in.
The local results were no surprise.
"I had known this was a hard-core Conservative riding," said Kratchmer.
Kratchmer believes the Conservatives won a majority because people decided they had enough of the minority situation in Parliament.
"I think people were sick and tired," Kratchmer said, of the minority situation. He also believes Quebec voters were fed up with the Bloc Quebecois' push for sovereignty.
He wasn't able to speak directly to Gerry Ritz on the phone on election night, he said, but did leave him a voice mail at his office with his congratulations.
While the local result was discouraging, election night still proved to be a good one for Green Party supporters. Leader Elizabeth May won her contest in Saanich-Gulf Islands to gain a historic seat in the House of Commons for her party for the first time.
"I think it's great that she's in," Kratchmer said of her victory. He expects to see May push for the same environmentalist policies that he supported on the campaign trail, and hopes she can convince Parliament to adopt some of the party's positions in support of the environment.
For now, Kratchmer will be back to running his organic farm full time. But he plans to be back on the campaign trail before too long. Kratchmer has agreed to run as the Green Party provincial candidate in Kindersley in this fall's provincial election.
"I look forward to pushing forward on the same things - no to nuclear, yes to renewables," said Kratchmer.
As for another federal run, "who knows? Anything's possible," said Kratchmer.
