I'm guessing from the moment the sun comes up tomorrow until the last ballot measure on the west coast is called in what should, rationally, be the "why am I not sleeping" hours of Wednesday morning, these here inter-tubes are going to be clogged like the arteries of a fifty-seven year old man who has eaten nothing but the meat-lovers pie at the International Hut Of Pizza.
So, with that in mind, let me do something that is, for me, long, long overdue...
Thank you.
Thank you to all who have given your time and your passion and your money and your worry and your brain-power and, mostly, your creativity.
Thank you to those have knocked on doors and made phone calls and checked off names and filled water coolers and put stickers and signs on cars and windows and lawns and bicycle frames and strollers.
Thank you to all who have given up countless hours with spouses and partners and kids and friends and pets and... well... anything, living or imagined... for the common good.
Thank you to those who hosted or attended fundraisers or held trays at fundraisers.
Thank you to those who traveled to other states... called other states... sent sub sandwiches and coffees and cookies to complete strangers.
Thank you to those who supported other candidates early on in the process... who may have had a dream or two placed momentarily on hold... but then set aside pride and politics for the higher purpose*. (It is EASY to back the winner from the beginning, but much more gutsy to have faith in something somewhat forced on you.)
Thank you to those who have had to swallow hard and grit your teeth when your issues, REAL ISSUES, have been compromised (whether that be civil liberties or war funding or universal-universal health-care) in order to get past the finish line (and may we, who may not share your particular passion, help champion those issues once the initial battle has been won).
Thank you to all the Republicans and Independents and Libertarians and Greens and Radicals and Pacifists who have looked past party to join us this time around (and may we, as Democrats, prove in the long run, to have deserved your trust and your votes and your future support).
Thank you to the dude who invented The Orange and to all the fair lasses and lads who keep the front pages stocked with fresh-baked progressive ideas and other basked goods.
Regardless of how it turns out, and I think it will be grand, THANK YOU.
From my neighbors, in this liberal bastion of Southern California, who do not have to suffer the slings and arrows of life in either "purple" or "red" America... THANK YOU.
From my children, who will only someday, truly understand... THANK YOU.
From my wife, who is SO FUCKING READY FOR THIS TO BE OVER... THANK YOU.
Really, THANK YOU.
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UPDATE: I'm sorry... unrelated, but... just... I can't put into words... great, really.