How well will Senator Obama do on Tuesday evening? Will he win Virginia and/or North Carolina and we'll all be able to rest easy early in the night? Or will it be a nail biter, all of us waiting for the polls to close in Nevada?
Maybe it doesn't matter, because Barack has already won Kansas. Liberal, Kansas.
Today's Lawrence Journal World says it all. To me, "Kansans’ campaign contributions all over map" suggests that there is no way any one thought Obama could raise more money than John McCain. Sure, his mom was from Kansas, but this is Kansas. When I moved here three years ago, I never deluded myself into thinking Kansas Democrats would make a name for themselves. But I have been wrong before and maybe the votes will follow the dollars in Kansas and prove me wrong again on Tuesday night.
The key point of the article:
When it comes to presidential campaign contributions, Lawrence isn’t the stereotypical bastion of blue in a sea of red this election season.
Contributing to the tune of $166,800, Lawrence residents gave more to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama than any other city in the state. But Lawrence wasn’t the only city favoring the Democratic contender for president.
An analysis by the Journal-World showed that from as far east as Arma to as far west as Goodland, more than 100 towns gave more to Obama’s campaign than to Republican contender Sen. John McCain.
In a state that hasn’t elected a Democratic president since 1964, Kansas contributed more to the Democratic nominee than to the Republican. According to numbers released this week by the Federal Election Commission, Obama raised $1.3 million in Kansas, and McCain brought in about $1.2 million.
See the full map here
The icing on the cake? Liberal, Kansas, in the southwest corner of the state, far away from Lawrence and big cities like New York and Washington, gave Obama a $2112 to $2001 fundraising advantage.
That is quite a bit of blue in a "red" state. What does it mean to donate money to a political candidate in the midst of the lowest rated President, the lowest rated Congress and one of the worst economic crises ever? No one is donating disposable income. Donating to Obama fulfills a need, not a want. Is there a prize awaiting us in Kansas on Tuesday night?
There is hope in the heartland today.