Buoyed by an army of volunteers who supported their campaign with old fashioned shoe leather and modern campaign tools like Facebook and Youtube, Melissa Northern, Al Filidoro and Steve Lyda were swept into office on the Flower Mound Town Council Saturday. All three of the NFL candidates (an acronym of North, Filidoro and Lyda) received approximately 60 percent of the vote in one of the most hotly contested town elections ever. Beaming and smartly dressed, Northern, Filidoro and Lyda were greeted with rousing ovations and shouts of "NFL! NFL! NFL!" at the NFL election celebration party at Z Bar and Grill. Supporters on hand numbered roughly 300. Amidst hugs, kisses and pats on the back, it was clear that the victory had many authors. People who became friends speaking at town council meetings, knocking on doors, posting signs and submitting letters or supportive blog entries were out in force to celebrate what they termed "a victory for the people."

     Filidoro and Lyda sported fresh sunburns from time spent outside in last-day campaigning. Filidoro said that he had picked up Lyda at 5:30 a.m. so they could get an early start on encouraging voters on Election Day. It turned out that most of their goals had already been accomplished. NFL supporters had so strongly participated in early balloting that each of their candidates had received enough votes to secure election before the polls opened Saturday. But the ballots had not yet been counted. "We didn't want to wonder after the election if there was something else we could have done," said Mayor-elect Northern. Northern received 4,928 votes to incumbent Mayor Jody Smith's 3,383. Incumbent Place 2 Candidate Al Filidoro bested challenger Gerald Robinson 4,864 to 3,328. Lyda, who had fallen 30 votes short of winning a council race in 2009, was the town's top vote getter with 5,016. His opponent, Bryan Webb, had 3,196. In early voting, Lyda received the most votes of any candidate in Denton County municipal or school board races. By the end of voting Saturday, LISD Trustee Place 5 candidate Brenda Latham had surpassed him with a vote total of 5,507. Denton County reports there are 153,455 eligible voters in the LISD. Flower Mound has 42,111.

     The NFL success grew from grassroots support of citizens who wanted a moratorium on gas well permitting while the town revises its gas well drilling ordinance. Though the NFL candidates were not recruited or sponsored by the Flower Mound Cares Petition organization, Flower Mound Citizens Against Urban Drilling or contributors to stopthedrilling.blogspot.com, they did receive their enthusiastic support. Filidoro said at first he, Lyda and Northern were individual candidates who worked together to share resources. He said that together they laid out a strategy and began gathering support. "At some point it became viral," he said, noting that volunteers worked independently and in teams to build the political victory.

     Smith, Webb and Robinson countered with expensive campaigns featuring professionally produced commercials running on cable, newspaper advertising, aggressive sign placement and hired call centers. Smith, charming, charismatic and highly visible as an ambassador for Flower Mound during her six years in office, sported endorsements from Congressman Michael Burgess, former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee and several former Flower Mound mayors. Supporters of the mayor's slate used direct mail and signs harshly critical of the NFL candidates. NFL supporters promptly identified the source of the mailings; reprinted and ridiculed them at stopthedrilling.blogspot.com and Facebook. Though they didn't hire professional ad agencies, NFL volunteers showed plenty of skill in modern media, delivering NFL endorsements from Flower Mound citizens through Youtube. Youtube also hosted some anonymously produced videos critical of Smith.

     Filidoro, singled out for some of the harshest criticism in the campaign, admitted that on a personal level some of the accusations hurled at him stung. "But I'm a trained fighter," said the experienced attorney who has been praised as a nice man who takes time to listen to constituents and help them with problems. In fact, Filidoro had first met Northern when she had requested the councilman's assistance on a homeowners' association issue. She appreciated his work and offered help with his campaign two years ago. Filidoro was impressed by Northern's quick mind, business skills and political acumen. He also liked the fact that she created a non-political organization designed to help improve the training and professionalism of homeowners association leaders. Northern admitted that she resisted when Filidoro had suggested she run for mayor, but she soon became a competent and enthusiastic campaigner who ousted a three term incumbent with a record of accomplishment and generosity. Lauri Long, who was elected to the Town Council as a Smith ally six years ago, was among those cheering at the NFL victory party Saturday night. She said it was a hard decision to go against a person with whom she had worked to improve town government. But Long said that it seemed the council had stopped listening to citizen concerns on gas drilling, the widening of Morriss Road and other issues that energized voters to support candidate Tom Hayden a year ago and the NFL candidates this year. "I'm so proud of the people for standing up for their rights," she said.