One thing about his recently abandoned quest for the governor’s office gives Dwight Drake satisfaction: He says that as he looks back on that seven-month attempt, he knows he never said anything that he didn’t fully believe. In other words, he didn’t fall into the common trap of saying things just to win. He likes to think he’d have continued to be true to himself if he’d stayed in it, but in any case, he got out before doing otherwise. I mentioned “The Candidate” to him, and he knew just what I meant. At least that didn’t happen to him…

Dwight came over to my table at breakfast this morning brandishing a gift-wrapped bottle, asking me if I wanted a drink. Not that early, not for me… The bottle was a gift from Harry Lightsey, who had been having breakfast with him. Dwight said Harry and his other friends did their best to raise money for him, but it was never quite enough. He said that by the end he could see himself maybe going so far as to win the primary, but he finally decided he’d never have enough for the general election.

That he didn’t raise enough money was a big disappointment, he said. But it wasn’t the biggest surprise.

The biggest surprise, he said, was that the media were nowhere to be found. He couldn’t get coverage. He said he knew newspapers and other media didn’t have the resources they once did, but he was utterly unprepared for the way his campaign was like a tree falling in the forest, with no one there to hear it.

I asked whether he thought he’d endorse anybody in the primary. He said he didn’t know yet.