Tonight as I was helping my son fall asleep, the following words of wisdom came out of this amazing 6 year-old's mouth:

'I'm kind of sad that the election is over, because I won't get to hear "Yes we can" anymore. Hey mom? I was looking at your computer and it said "Yes we did," but we didn't yet. Obama wasn't saying yes we can get him elected. He was saying yes we can make the country better, and we haven't done that yet.'

You know what? He's right. Let's take a moment and bask of the glow of our victory, but then let's remember that the reason we loved this candidate is because he empowered US to be the community organizers who change the world for the better. WE are the ones we have been waiting for.

YES WE CAN!!!

I just returned home after dropping my son off at school. He's in first grade at what's probably our town's second wealthiest elementary school. I only mention that because these are supposed to be the voters who always vote selfishly to preserve their own wealth, right? This morning there were HUGE grins on the parents, and fist bumps all around.

We did it. We started the change that America needs. All of us did. And now we get to take this great euphoric feeling and apply it to making this a better country for all our children.

Today is a proud day.

He's a true leader, the likes of which we haven't seen in a generation. So many of our inspirational leaders have been taken from us too early. I pray that Obama will be safe.

He's made a fort out of all his Obama and Vote Today signs, and is hunched down in there reading his pocket Constitution. We're watching MSNBC and keep having to explain the different perspectives that partisan talking heads take. Every time they have a Republican on, he gets all worried with their predictions of a McCain win.

This is FUN!

She's 96 years old, and racist in a very kind of ingrained, unconscious way. Back before she stopped talking to me for leaving her grandson, she stopped talking to me for awhile when she discovered I was a democrat.

I just ran into her granddaughter who shocked me by telling me that Grammy is actually considering voting for Obama. She just got her absentee ballot, and despite having voted Republican all her life she just cannot stomach voting for a ticket with "that scary Palin woman" on it. This is amazing, mind-blowing stuff.

I love his smile. I love his voice. I love his calm in the face of idiotic attacks. I want to be proud of my country again. I want Barack Obama as my president.

He's been following this election with intense interest. He wears his Obama pin to school every day. Talks to all his friends about politics. Organized the neighborhood kids to chant: "Obama '08!" at all the passing cars. Last week he came to the Campaign for Change offices with me to make a poster to put on the walls there (we've got art from kids covering all the walls), and he grabbed some posters and stickers. Here's the result.



He says he's going to be president himself one day. I can't wait.

My partner and I have dedicated a lot of time and money to this campaign - even though we both were for Hillary in the primaries. I spend about 30 hours a week as a volunteer coordinator in the local Campaign for Change office. I carry my voter registration clipboard around with me at all times.

I'm telling you all this so that you don't jump down my throat and tell me - unnecessarily - that voting for McCain would be worse for me. Of course I know that. Of course we're voting for Obama, and doing everything we can to get him elected.

That being said, as a gay woman with a child, Biden's comment last night hurt.

Asked if he would support gay marriage, Biden said: "No. Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage."

That hurt, because it can legitimize peoples' bigotry toward my family. "See! Even your candidates think it's wrong!" He could have used other words, he could have corrected Gwen when she said he agreed with Palin. But...he didn't.

Is it a deal breaker for me? Of course it isn't. The ticket still has my support. I still have a lot of hope for an Obama/Biden administration. But right now, today, I'm a little upset.

I started volunteering at the local Obama For Change offices. Said I was going to do it one day a week. Somehow now I am a volunteer coordinator working 5 days a week. It's true - the energy and the dedication is contagious! So many people willing to do whatever it takes to win this election.

If you haven't volunteered yet this election, I urge you to give it a shot. We only have a few weeks left for voter registration. If you can spare an hour or two you could make a huge difference.

Thanks!!

* If you grow up in Hawaii and are raised by a single Mom and your grandparents, you're "exotic, different " and not a real American.
* Grow up on a number of military bases outside of the United States or in Alaska shooting moose and eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

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* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim; name your kids Bristol, Willow, Trig and Track, you're a real American and a maverick.

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* If you graduate near the top of your class from Harvard Law School then you are an elitist who's not a real American and certainly not qualified to be President of the United States; finish close to last in your graduating class from the Naval Academy or attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded and the most qualified to hold the two highest offices in the U.S.

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* If you spend 3 years as a community organizer, become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you're a not-to-be trusted pointy-headed intellectual and don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, you're the "real" leader and qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

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* If you can look out your window and claim you can see Russia, you're a foreign policy expert; however, if you've served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, traveled the world and actually met foreign heads of state, you're not only an elitist "celebrity" who cannot relate to "real" Americans, but completely unqualified to be president of the United States.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a maverick and someone to be looked up to as promoting Christian values.

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* If you teach children about sexual predators, you are irresponsible and eroding the fiber of society but if while Mayor of your small town, you charge rape victims for rape kits you are to be applauded for your leadership.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

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* If your wife is a Harvard- educated lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's ; however if you can't remember how many houses you own, your wife is one of the richest people in America who inherited her money and wears dresses every day that cost several hundred thousand dollars, the two of you have more in common with and can relate better to "real" Americans than the snooty Harvard Law graduates who paid their own way through college and law school.

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* If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude," with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that hates America and advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

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* If you repeatedly lie about your own record and that of your opponent while your opponent refuses to make up lies about you, you're a maverick who is to be admired while your opponent is a weird, out of touch elitist.

I spent the morning and early afternoon at our Obama HQ calling registered voters over 55 years old who are expected to be undecided. Lots and lots of hang-ups, but the one call that made my day included the quote above. I asked the man how he thought the government had been doing for the last few years. He laughed and said:

"You can make a note of this. I'm 57 years old. I have never voted before in my life. Never voted. And I am going to vote for the very first time on November 4th, because I'm ready for change and I think Barack Obama is the man to do it. We can't take any more of this."

I'm a soccer mom, and I am an educated voter. You don't win votes by demeaning the audience you are trying to sway. Not all "soccer moms" or "hockey moms" are idiot Nat'l Enquirer readers.
There is so much corruption in Palin's past, so much vapid ignorance. Point that stuff out. Don't use Hockey Mom as a derisive term. You're going to turn off way more people than you will win with taunts like that.

The McCain campaign and their supporters are purging voters in key battleground states. We need to work to register voters. Can you help?

The McCain campaign and their supporters spreading ridiculous lies and propaganda to sway the undecideds. Can you spend some time on the phones or writing letters? How about a quick, well thought-out letter to the editor? Only takes a minute.

I can't afford to let them win the presidency again. I'm fighting this time.

Are you ready to fight??

Let's win this election!!!!!


If you've got good ideas, links, anything helpful, post 'em here. It's time to win.

And how ashamed am I that I said she seemed cool?

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