Yes We Can!

I have felt somewhat disconnected from this election season. Since I was old enough to vote, I have always been working on a campaign or running an exit poll, etc., and this year I simply watched the news unfold on TV. I started the year off on the Romney campaign and although I knew even then that he would not win the election, I was intrigued by his attempt and it motivated and inspired me. I was scheduled to work at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in September, but without a candidate that I truly believed in, I passed at the opportunity.

We started our election day bright and early with a brisk jog to our polling booth and were happy to see a line of maybe 20 people already started by 7:15am. Belle was very excited and shouted "I'm going to vote for Barack Obama" in the school and we had to quickly quiet her enthusiasm. Although I cast my vote for Senator McCain, I let her push the red blinking VOTE button so that she felt that she had indeed cast her own vote. Our DVR started recording the news at 5:00pm and when Ben arrived home at nearly 8:00pm we finally started our news watching marathon. Even though the election was mostly decided before November 4th ever arrived, we still watched intently until the polls closed on the west coast and they officially named President Obama the winner of the 2008 Presidential Election. (Ben immediately got out his calculator and started estimating how much money he would lose next year! It is all fiscal-policy for him!)

It was a long and dreary night for the Republicans both locally and nationally and almost every single candidate that I voted for, lost! Even my local judge who has run uncontested for years and my Water District Representative both were defeated. And even though Senator McCain was able to carry the State Of Texas, he lost in my county! Luckily, Representative Frank J. Corte won by great margins which is always a particularly sweet victory for me!

This morning while I was jogging and passed the school with all of the campaign signs blown over from a busy night, I thought about picking one up for Rep. Corte and running a victory lap for him. (That would have been a sight to see!) He would have loved it, but when I thought about that he would not in fact actually see me doing it, I decided to run home empty handed. At home I found an elated Isabelle who was dancing to the news of the new President-Elect Obama and decided that that was success enough. At age two, she already believes in the democratic process and thinks that her vote DID matter and that she helped elect the first black President.

So, although I do not share the same vision that President Obama sees, I believe in pulling together as a country and working to keep America strong. I am grateful to live in a time when the American Dream is still alive and I am hopeful that the Grand Old Party can unite and be ready in 8 years to flourish once again. Congratulations to Barack Obama and may he be inspired to lead as we so desperately need to be led!

Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known. - President Ronald Reagan