Yes, We Did.

I can't stop smiling.

I just can't.

Can you?

To those who said to me in the early years of my marriage that they didn't believe in mixed marriages because, after all, "What will become of the children?" I say to them today, "They can become your President."

Happy Day, America.

The fear mongers are out of power.

Breathe.

Let's get ready to get to work.

It's for them.

Despinification, or: Chill, Hill.

In a surprise twist after a chaotic Super Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) passed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in network tallies of the number of delegates the candidates racked up last night.

The Obama camp projects topping Clinton by nine delegates, 845 to 836.

NBC News, which is projecting delegates based on the Democratic Party's complex formula, figures Obama will wind up with 840 to 849 delegates, versus 829 to 838 for Clinton.

Clinton was portrayed in many news accounts as the night’s big winner, but Obama’s campaign says he wound up with a higher total where it really counts — the delegates who will choose the party’s nominee at this summer’s Democratic convention.

With the delegate count still under way, NBC News said Obama appears to have won around 840 delegates in yesterday’s contests, while Clinton earned about 830 — “give or take a few,” Tim Russert, the network’s Washington bureau chief, said on the “Today” show.

The running totals for the two, which includes previous contests and the party officials known as “superdelegates,” are only about 70 delegates apart, Russert said.

The bottom line is that the two are virtually tied.

Last Chance, America. Let's Get It Right.

I voted today for the first time in 28 years.

I was so far removed from the political system that, despite my proactive registration at the library in December 2007, I fell between the cracks. Apparently, my registration never made it from the librarian's hands into the system, however that's supposed to work. When I looked online to find my polling site, there was no record of me. When I went to the nearest polling place this morning to vote, I got confirmation that I didn't exist.

The polling officials let me vote provisionally, but I had to drive down to the board of elections to tell them my story if I wanted a chance for my vote to count.

But when I got there, they told me I was indeed not in the system, but to go to a different polling place and fill out another provisional ballot, in order for my vote to count. I asked if I shouldn't go get my provisional ballot and bring it to the right place, but that's not allowed. So, I drove another 20 minutes to the new polling place.

When I got there, they explained that no, I couldn't vote there because I had filled out the ballot at the other polling place. They were sorry, but the lady at the elections office had given me the wrong instructions.

Thankfully the head official at the polling place offered to follow me over to the original polling place, where I had filled out my original provisional ballot. When I got there, I had to fill in some additional information on some additional forms to make me legal. We crossed "t"s and dotted "i"s.

I figure even though it took me 2 hours to vote, if you spread that across 28 years, it's really not so bad. I just hope it counts.

The next step in the process is somehow proving that I submitted the registration to the library in December, which I did (see post here: http://allied.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-have-not-voted-in-27-years.html, wherein I mention that I had registered a couple weeks prior to the date of my Jan 3 post. The last day to register was January 7.

I wonder if my blog can count as proof of registration prior to the deadline?

When I asked the poll workers what could have happened to my registration, two different times they mentioned that they had been having some problems with people who registered at the libraries and at the DMV. That rather sucks considering that's probably how most people who aren't registered GET registered.

Now if I were a bona fide conspiracy theorist, I might have suspected that the White County librarian noticed I was registering as a Democrat and put my registration in the bin marked Bartow County Dump instead of Board of Elections.

But you know me - I don't have a suspicous bone in my body.

heh.

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I have not voted in 27 years

It doesn't seem like that's possible: the last time I voted was in 1980, when I worked on John Anderson's campaign as an undergrad and Independent at the University of Buffalo.

Turn around and 27 years have gone by. How do you lose a couple-three decades? In politics, you basically give up, stop believing. As the years go by, you lose hope, see that the country your child stands to inherit has turned into a place you are very close to running away from. Because it is ugly and doesn't resemble you or your family or anything you even remotely believe in. Because it doesn't feel like home.

Two weeks ago I made a decision to try again. At the public library, I registered to vote.

This will be my first election in nearly 30 years. I will vote for Barack Obama, the one candidate who I believe can help heal a couple of hundred years of trauma that America can't seem to get past.

I would like to be able to say to Jenna, "Yes, that is President Obama." I will not vote Republican, even if that means I have to vote for Hillary.

Lots of things have kept me from registering to vote over the past couple of decades -- from complete lack of faith in the process to moral resistance to the endemic immorality of politics. And lots of other reasons too.

But before I give up on America and the democratic process for the next 27 years, I will try to stand up for change again. I will volunteer. I will donate. And I will vote.

If you haven't voted in a few elections, come along with me. Let's look ahead and suspend our disbelief, even if just for this next year, to see if we can make a difference. To see if it is possible to change course.

I don't think it has ever mattered as much as it does now.




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