I signed up for Daily Kos about a year ago, but I have just lurked - I have not posted till today. I am still heavily in debt to humanity, having voted for GWB in 2000 and voted against him in 2004, though not necessarily FOR a candidate so much as against the incumbent and his bankruptcy of ideas. This is my first post, and it will be my first caucus.
I have watched the ascension of Barack Obama with some amusement and recollection. It was some years ago here in MN that a feather boa wearing former pro wrestler turned talk show host launched a campaign that was considered irrelevant and unelectable. That man was Jesse Ventura. He got the governorship in part by not being a politician. He seemed like a leader, and the young people flocked to him. They defied pollsters, conventional wisdom, and got the guy in office and even inspired, I believe, a certain Governator in another state to consider the office ;)
When I hear people talk about the incredible rise and optimism of the Democratic party and record turnouts, I fear they don't realize it's not about the Party. It's about leadership, and someone who doesn't approach them as job security, but as instruments of change. I suspect much of this energy and hope will fizzle away if it is asked to cast a vote for Republican-Lite.
We all should remember how young people think - it's all black or white when you're young - so little grey - it's all or nothing, generally. Perhaps I still feel the same way they do sometimes when I wonder what it is I can do.
On Tuesday, I will walk three blocks to the middle school (probably in a snowstorm) to my first caucus event. I think in MN I just have to show up with a driver's license. I will do what I can to restore my hope and faith by participating in a process that will give me, for the first time in my 18 years of election participation, a candidate I can believe in, and not just the lesser of two evils.
and I will cast a vote for Barack Obama. Then I'll say a prayer for him. Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I did that for a candidate too.
RB