Loser. Also-ran. Runner-up. Failure.

Defeated. Vanquished. Spurned. Rejected.

A lot of painful words can be attached to the candidates who don’t win today. But a lot of nicer words are just as applicable:

Volunteer. Optimist. Community booster.

Generous. Public-spirited. Courageous.

In our view, the second list is far more accurate.

A lot of courageous volunteers will find themselves hip-deep in disappointment tonight. After weeks or months of hard work and sacrifice, they end up with — what? Maybe some leftover brochures and worn-out walking shoes.

If you know one of these people, please take the time to call or e-mail them. Say, “Thanks for putting yourself out there.” They need to hear it.

Running for office can be exciting, but it’s also painful. You have to sell yourself to strangers. You have to knock on a lot of doors, shake a lot of hands, and listen to a lot of complaints. You risk public humiliation from smear ads and nasty letters to the editor.

The pain is worthwhile if you win. You get to walk around town being congratulated. You get to wear a fancy title. In some cases, you get paid.

Best of all, you get the chance to make a difference. You get to make decisions and work on projects to improve your community’s future.

The candidates who lose tonight won’t get any of those prizes. Instead, they’ll watch the election returns and feel their dream slipping away. When it’s over, they may feel like they’ve wasted their time.

We don’t  see it that way. The time they spent on this campaign was a priceless investment. Though they won’t be serving in elected office next year, they already have served their communities.

Losing candidates contribute by creating democracy’s most essential commodity — competition. Their participation makes their opponents work harder, listen more closely, and align their platforms with what voters really want. Incumbents are more responsive if they know a tough re-election campaign may be coming.

Without these losing candidates, democracy would be a sham. Elections would be pointless. America wouldn’t be America.

So thank a loser this week. Better yet, thank a courageous volunteer. They deserve to hear that the rest of us appreciate them, for greasing the wheels of our creaky old republic.