A year later, Mongiardo nearly made a believer out of everyone. The Democrat received a whopping 850,439 votes in his statewide debut to give Republicans a scare before falling short of pulling a huge upset.

Having suffered his first electoral loss since high school, Mongiardo returns to his Hazard medical practice and his state Senate duties.

But the ear, nose and throat specialist vows to keep speaking out on health care and pocketbook issues he made an anthem of his longshot bid that nearly became reality. And he won't rule out another run for office.

"My ambition is to improve the quality of health care," Mongiardo told the Associated Press a day after his nearly 23,000-vote loss to Bunning. "It's my mission in life and I'll go wherever that takes me.

"If that means another run for a race sometime in the future where I can improve health care, then I'll do that. If it means something else, then I'll do that."

Some observers say Mongardio's showing Tuesday could position him for another run for statewide office.