1. As Lieutenant Governor, Matt started the first-ever blog on the state government website in May 2009. You can find it at mattdenn.blogs.delaware.gov

2. Matt often posts his blog entries to his Facebook group. That page is at www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=2379828032

3. Matt also sends periodic updates to the email list you can join at the right side of this page.

Democrat Matt Denn became the state’s next lieutenant governor with more than 61 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Charlie Copeland.

Denn garnered 236,741 votes compared to Copeland’s 149,222 in a year that saw overwhelming victories for Democrats across the nation.

Speaking to supporters at the Doubletree Hotel in Wilmington, Denn said he got two messages from voters. They know the state faces difficult times and needs proven leadership, “and the old slash-and-burn politics does not work anymore in Delaware,” he said.

“Starting tomorrow morning — not January — Jack Markell and I will go to work for you to help turn this state around,” he said. “I have two little boys. We’ve been trying to teach them not to call other people names. The other side has called me a trial lawyer, a politician and other things I won’t relate. Tonight they can call me lieutenant governor.”

Copeland addressed Republican supporters at the Christiana Hilton, saying that Tuesday was not the day to lament the loss.

“I view this as a night to say let’s reload, let’s get back on the horse and let’s start moving forward,” he said.

With Republicans defeated across the state — including in Copeland’s home district, the only in the state with a Republican majority — he said much of the losses could be attributed to national politics.

“It’s hard to beat George Bush, and that’s what we’ve had to face,” he said.

Copeland said it was too early to start talking about a run for governor in 2012. But within moments of delivering his concession speech, supporters began approaching Copeland to voice regrets that he didn’t run for the state’s top spot.

“You should have run for governor,” one supporter said, hugging Copeland after he stepped off stage.

But that may not have mattered considering the wave of Democratic sentiment across the state and the number of Republican Party stalwarts who fell in other races.

At the polls Tuesday, Wayne A. Widdoes, 65, of Newark, said the Republican Party was his motivation for heading to the voting booth — and not because he was voting for its candidates.

“We’ve got to have change,” Widdoes said. “It’s that simple, we need to change.”

He said he opted for Jack Markell, the Democrat who won the governor’s office, and Denn, adding Markell is “right for this state” after problems created by outgoing Gov. Ruth Ann Minner.

Bruce Jester of Rockland saw Denn and Copeland as qualified for the lieutenant governor’s job, but voted for Denn — because he had voted for Markell for governor.

“It would be a waste to have a lieutenant governor from the other party,” Jester said. “They have a better chance of getting things done together.”

1.  Asked anyone for money.

2.  Fast-forwarded through six hours of taped cable television to see if there are new ads on tv calling me names

3.  Eaten any food items in my car.

4.  Forgotten to feed the dog

5.  Failed to read the sports pages

6.  Been to a supermarket for any reason other than the purchase of food

Top six things I have done since Tuesday

1.  Played with my kids

2.  Driven my friend Jack Markell nuts already

3.  Drank some very suspicious tasting punch at a Return Day party.

4.  Gazed adoringly at my wife (this blog is PG rated)

5.  Walked the dog

6.  Fined another insurance company

I can’t begin to say how grateful I am to have the opportunity to do this job, and how grateful I am to the many, many people who helped with my campaign.  I promise that I will make you proud that you were part of it.

Now, it is time to go to work.  I will have more to report in the next few days. 

Things are looking up!

There were three things that really struck me about my school for the day, North Dover Elementary.  First of all, the teachers all seem to work very well as a team.  The day that I was there they were trying to explain the presidential election to first and second graders, and they had all come up with a lesson plan together and were sharing materials.  (I contemplated steering the discussion to the Lieutenant Governor’s race, but thought it probably violated the Principal for a Day Code.)  Second, there was one teacher I met—and I am embarrassed to have forgotten her name, because she made such an impression on me—who was teaching for the first year after spending many years working as a teaching assistant at North Dover.  I asked her how she was enjoying being a teacher, and she absolutely glowed—it was something she had wanted to do for years, and now that she had fulfilled the requirements and been hired by the same school where she had spent years as an assistant, she was having the time of her life.  It was great to see someone who was so visibly inspired by the opportunity to teach.  Finally, I walked into the cafeteria with the principal Suzette Marine, and she was literally mobbed by adoring students—students waved at her from their tables unprompted and called out her name, others ran up to her to hug her.  I told her it was like walking in with Elvis.

It was great to see teachers and administrators working so hard to help their kids.  North Dover, thank you for letting me visit—it recharged my batteries to fight for this last week to stand up for the kids of our state.

Yesterday, we participated in the final parade of the campaign season, the Newark Halloween Parade. This one is the boys’ favorite, because all of the kids watching the parade are also dressed in costumes. For them, it’s almost like being on an amusement park ride. The boys were still sporting their firefighter uniforms, which at $50 a pop I am already lobbying for them to wear next Halloween as well. A few photos are on our Flickr page.

Zach and I also embarked on an interesting journey on Saturday afternoon—since it was raining out, we decided to visit every bowling alley from Dover north and greet the rainy day bowlers. We had to cut Dover off the list when Zach started to fall asleep in the car, and then we had to cut one more off when we realized that The Candidate had left the house without The Candidate’s Wallet. But all in all, it was a great trip—we met a ton of people, and as always Zach dazzled them.

But now it’s time for what it’s all been about: Election Day. If you are looking for information about me and have some serious time to kill, you can see my hour-long candidate profile by WHYY Channel 12 (you’ll need RealPlayer). If you are supporting me (P.S. - Thanks!) and want to help get out the vote for me and our Democratic team on November 4, please volunteer and we’ll plug you in to our efforts. Or if you are just itching to go vote, you can find your polling place.

Education and spending were the main topics discussed Monday at a debate at Hockessin Memorial Hall for candidates vying for two state Senate seats and lieutenant governor.

Candidates for the 4th and 6th Senate Districts fielded questions from the Hockessin Area Development Association, before the candidates for lieutenant governor, Republican Charlie Copeland and Democrat Matt Denn, addressed health care and education.

“In respect to public education, dealing with those issues has a lot to do with the economy, both in the short term and the long term,” Denn said.

Both candidates said their campaign has been positive, and focused on the issues.

“I’m the only candidate of the four running for lieutenant governor or governor that has actually created jobs in the last 15 years,” Copeland said. “That’s what we need to turn our economy around, someone who can create jobs in Delaware.”

When asked about health insurance for children, the lieutenant governor candidates had different outlooks on providing government assistance.

Copeland cited programs in other states that have insured children by providing assistance to parents who are unable to afford the insurance costs and assistance for health issues that are common. He also suggested assisting small businesses by providing monetary aid to companies that can’t afford coverage.

Copeland supports allowing people to purchase insurance from companies based in other states, a move he said increases competition among providers, and lowers costs.

Denn said he has introduced a plan to insure all of Delaware’s children, including increasing enrollment in the state’s CHIP program and allowing parents to insure their children, but not themselves, through employer coverage.

Denn said he disagrees with Copeland’s stance on deregulating health care coverage by allowing people to purchase it out-of-state. He said this could cause problems for people seeking claims to be paid and finding doctors…

Hockessin, Del. — With 15, maybe 20 debates under their belts, the candidates for lieutenant governor have been asked just about everything.

So it’s no surprise that both Republican Charlie Copeland and Democrat Matt Denn seemed well-rehearsed for their 40 minute face-off Monday at Hockessin Memorial Hall.

In the forum, sponsored by the Community News, both focused their remarks on education and the economy, and both touted their experience and achievements in their previous roles – Copeland as state senator and Denn as Insurance Commissioner.

On the subject of education, Denn said the state had to do more to recruit and retain teachers, and said he would support financial incentives for teachers whose students excel and for those who are willing to teach in troubled schools.

If elected, he said he’ll convene a group of parents, teachers and administrators to help define what are considered classroom expenditures and what are administrative costs. Only after that is determined, can the state set criteria as to how much of its funding must go directly to the “classroom.”

“We need to tell the local school districts ‘you need to meet that [percentage] and then you can have some discretion as to where to use that money,’” he said.

But Copeland said he thinks there have been enough meetings, and said the next governor and lieutenant governor need to take the lead on pushing legislation that solves the problem. He said its time the state began implementing tenants of the Vision 2015 education proposal.

“We’ve heard from a number of teacher and administrators…and now its time to get something done,” he said.

Asked about development, Copeland said it was important for lawmakers to strike a balance between individual property rights and their responsibility to regulate uses and zoning. He said one of Delaware’s biggest shortcomings has been its failure to adequately fund open space preservation efforts.

“We’ve seen our budget frittered away on so many other areas and the growth of our personnel to 31,000 employees,” he said.

Denn said the state’s budget crunch is going to force officials to change the way they approach preservation.

“The days when we can buy our way out of the open space program if not over, are on hold for a while,” he said.

He said state planners have to do more to coordinate with county officials to make sure growth is slated for areas which already have the necessary infrastructure.

Perhaps the biggest contrast between the two candidates came on the subject of healthcare. With Medicaid costs rising by 14 percent per year in Delaware, Copeland said the state has to look at ways to make the program more affordable and more user-friendly for those who are enrolled.

He said Delaware should consider models like those in Oklahoma and Rhode Island, where Medicaid can pay an individual’s share of a policy when his or her employer is willing to pay the other portion.

Copeland called for less government regulation on health care and said instead, the state should be fostering competition that could drive premiums down.

Denn rejected that approach.

“I don’t think deregulation will help reduce costs, and it raises questions about how people who don’t get their claims paid will be able to have recourse,” he said.

Denn said he has a plan to cover every child in Delaware, by increasing enrollment in the federally-funded Children’s Health Insurance Program and by allowing families who may not be able to purchase a plan for their entire family to be able to purchase a policy for their children individually.

Throughout the evening, Denn linked himself closely with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jack Markell, while Copeland never mentioned Bill Lee, the Republican candidate. Copeland addressed that divergence in his closing remarks. He pledged to be independent, and said he would oppose “bad legislation” no matter who else supported it.

“I’m not going to be Bill Lee’s lieutenant governor or Jack Markell’s lieutenant governor,” he said. “I’m running to be Delaware’s lieutenant governor.”