Back in 2008, I posted this Diary about my grandmother's reaction to the Powell endorsement.
I just got off the phone with her regarding Powell's endorsement on CBS today.
My grandma is now 90, and will be voting early next week, depending on the weather. She doesn't do absentee ballots since her Palm Beach ballot was rejected in one of the local races back in 1999; we should've known then that the county's voting system was Problematic.
She's been following every nuance of the election coverage, and since the first debate she's been so worried and anxious about whether the president can win this again. Thankfully, Joe's debate crushing of Ryan, and Obama's two subsequent debates of awesome have ratcheted down her fears, but she tells me every day how worried she is for me and my sister, and for our sons and daughters, if Romney is elected.
Keeping her spirits up is what keeps me optimistic, and making sure that the next president is going to be good for her great-grandkids is going to be what governs her decision to vote for Barack Obama next week.
We were talking yesterday about the stories in 2008 about the massive number of Republicans who were voting for and endorsing Barack Obama - but this year, even though the same people, including CC Goldwater and yes, Colin Powell, are endorsing Barack Obama again, the only stories about it have been a smattering in Florida about Governor Charlie Crist. It's not part of this year's narrative, perhaps because so many former Republicans - moderate Republicans, Rockefeller Republicans - have completely given up on their former party.
Just like my Grandma did when Bill Clinton was impeached, and she's never gone back.
And on an unrelated note, here's a photo of the campaign's FORWARD bus, which I spotted on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami on this rainy morning.