I doubt I will ever again care about the state auditor race in the same way I did this year.

Let’s face it, in the midst of gubernatorial madness and highly contested U.S. Congressional races, the results of the state auditor contest don’t seem all too pressing.

But when you have two candidates who have dedicated their lives to ranting and raving about the inequities of one another, it’s at least interesting.

While I do not intend to join in on the fight between Rebecca Otto and Pat Anderson, I will say this: From the moment I met Pat, I knew she had to have an enemy.

I was working at The Daily Journal in Fergus Falls when I first encountered the candidate, who was having a meeting with my boss.

I think my initial reaction went something like this, “Who was that woman and who ticked her off?

She was Pat Anderson and Rebecca Otto had crossed her path.

The story goes a little something like this …

Anderson held the post from 2003 to 2007 — until she was ousted by Otto.

At that point, the gloves were off  — Anderson went on a quest to regain the highly sought after State Auditor throne.

Throughout the campaign, Anderson accused Otto of stating falsehoods and Otto fired back, saying it was all a big political trick on Anderson’s part.

Day after day, I received emails in my inbox, from both Rebecca and Pat, attacking one another for this and that. I was drawn in, much like I would be to a soap opera (though I do not watch soap operas, to clear that up). If nothing else, they were my daily dose of political entertainment. I was hooked.

So when it came time last night to rapidly enter results to our website as they came in, I found it tempting to not drift over to the Secretary of State’s website to check in on the Otto-Anderson battle.

We now know that Otto took the cake, slipping by Anderson with 48.39 percent of the vote, compared to her opponent’s 47.13 percent.

While I was initially thrilled to put to rest my suspense and come to some closure in the race, I think I might actually miss the Otto-Anderson fight club that became such an important part of my daily routine.

Though there are surely losers and winners in political races, I believe any two candidates who have the ability to make a typically boring election as intriguing as this one deserve some credit. In my eyes, they’re both winners.