We mustn’t let it go to our heads but once again retirees have been singled out for their importance to the UFT.

In the blitz of stories reporting on and analyzing the campaigns and the outcome of the recent primary, one publication — Gotham Schools — cited us as “the union’s strong cadre of retired teachers in particular, known as the ‘daytime union’ because they can step up when active members are at work.” And step up we did.

Once again we staffed phones, leafleted and helped in door-to-door grassroots campaigning in targeted neighborhoods. We were on those phones starting in July helping the union twice reach every UFT member who lives in the city and is a registered Democrat.

And, while we didn’t prevail in the mayoral primary, 48 of the 54 UFT-endorsed candidates did score victories on Sept. 10.

With the concerted efforts of the UFT and other unions, Scott Stringer overcame a high-profile, well-financed challenge from Eliot Spitzer to win a stunning victory in the city comptroller Democratic primary. We all can breathe a sigh of relief on that one.

Now we’re headed into the November elections and once again retirees will step up to the challenge of helping to elect union-backed candidates. When Thompson decided not to pursue a divisive runoff, the Delegate Assembly was able to vote overwhelmingly to support Bill de Blasio because we already knew his stand on the issues important to us as educators and as citizens of this great city.

The UFT did such a thorough vetting of all the primary mayoral candidates before it finally made its endorsement decisions that we had ample opportunity to learn about each of them.

Way back in May, 1,200 UFT members attending the union’s Spring Education Conference at the Hilton Hotel had a chance to listen for an hour while the six contending mayoral candidates answered questions put to them by UFT President Michael Mulgrew and Vice President for Elementary Schools Karen Alford. For a half hour after that, members lined up at the microphones with questions of their own.

The May Delegate Assembly was a “speak out” that gave delegates an opportunity to advocate for or against each candidate. Each of the union’s borough offices also sponsored candidate forums that were followed by straw votes. At the Brooklyn forum, 200 members stayed for three hours, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., grilling candidates.

By the end of the three-month vetting period, more than 2,000 members had participated in the endorsement process before the 3,400-member Delegate Assembly made its decision.

As Bill Thompson said of de Blasio in conceding the primary and promising his support in the upcoming election, “We share fundamental views and values.”

Those shared views and values expressed over the months of the endorsement process were clearly in focus when the union moved quickly and overwhelmingly to endorse Bill de Blasio for mayor.

In thanking delegates for their support immediately following the vote, de Blasio promised to restore respect for teachers.

“There are some heroes in our society, and they are called teachers,” he said. He also touched on four issues of great concern to the educational community: the need for pre-K and after-school programs, an end to standardized tests and bringing parents back.

Mulgrew described the private meeting he had with Thompson and de Blasio leading up to the Sept. 16 endorsement as “one of the most refreshing political conversations I have ever had in my life.”

So now our job is to ensure that Bill de Blasio becomes the next mayor of New York. With the full financial and manpower backing of all of us in the UFT, we can help make that happen.

“We need to come together to make sure our school system and city are not damaged by a Republican candidate who has said he will continue the education policies of Michael Bloomberg,” Mulgrew warned.

And de Blasio, warning of a negative campaign from the opposition that has already begun, also warned of complacency: “The minute you think things are in the bag, they’re not in the bag.”

To paraphrase what I said in my Sept. 5 column: As veterans of attempts to affect the outcome of citywide elections and public issues, we know that winning and losing can have long-standing consequences. What matters is that we commit ourselves fully to maximizing the union’s political clout as we always have.