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Bumps, bruises - literally - from the campaign trail

By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 12, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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The election may be over, but the pain continues for some candidates.

Not the pain of losing, but actual physical pain from injuries on the campaign trail.

State Rep. Jerry Frangas, for example, was about 60 percent through his goal of knocking on every door in his northwest Denver district when an old football injury resurfaced and he suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee. The Democrat took a cortisone shot, got off his feet for two weeks and then got back on the trail, eventually reaching 100 percent of his area.

"I lost 17 pounds," said Frangas, who won re-election.

Republican Rep. Spencer Swalm, who has endured pain since breaking his right hip while skiing some 20 years ago, walked door-to-door in his Centennial- area district for 10 days before the ache became too great.

Knowing he needed to cover as much ground as possible, he put off hip-replacement surgery and bought a Segway - a two- wheeled vehicle propelled by an electric motor - at his wife's suggestion. He rode it from door to door, sometimes parking it on people's porches. He got really positive reactions to his tenacity, he said, and won the election.

Rep. Gwyn Green, who had foot surgery last year to deal with stress fractures that developed during the 2006 campaign, found her knees began to hurt as she knocked on doors this year.

Knowing she would need knee surgery after the election, the Golden Democrat did more of her constituent work by phone but still managed to get around with the aid of a cane. She won.

Rep. Cory Gardner emerged from the campaign unscathed, but his father wasn't so fortunate.

The Yuma Republican, who didn't even have an opponent, convinced his father, a Democrat, to hold one of his campaign signs and march in a parade in Wray. A gust caught the sign, which struck the elder Gardner's ear, causing substantial bleeding, Rep. Gardner said.

John Gardner kept walking despite the injury. However, he wondered whether the event was some sort of providential message about a Democrat campaigning for a Republican.

"He said: 'This is a sign, isn't it?' " Rep. Gardner recalled, laughing.