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Edward KocheEdward Koche
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Session:         Page of 617

alienate somebody who's super-sensitive in this area.

Bob Ferrari (and I've discussed this with you) had only carried one of the ten election districts in the South Village, which is Italian. That to me was very important. And then in 1968, when I ran the next time -- I served two years in the city council for the four-year term, but I just didn't serve the second two years -- I won with a plurality, it's my recollection, of 15,000. But I'm better able to recount the percentages as opposed to the votes. I just don't remember the numbers. But the percentages were remarkable. In 1968 I won with 51. % of the vote. Some of the records say 52, but it was really 51. In 1970 I won with 62%. In 1972 I won with 70%. And in 1974 I won with 76.7%. And when I was asked in the election of 1974 by Tom Buckley -- he did a very nice article on me -- “Congressman, what do you expect your margin of victory to be?” this was well in advance of the election, and you can never say what your margin of victory is going to be (it's ridiculous: one it's arrogant, and, two, it turns people off when you just assume you're going to win), I answered this way and this is the way it appeared in print: “Well, I think it would not be accurate for me to say that I'm the underdog.” That's the way it opens. “But I don't see how I can increase my margin over and above what I did on the last occasion.” And the truth was I knew I would increase it, but you can't say that. “But,” I said, “the reason I don't think I can do any better is: I got 70% in the





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