In mid-September Mrs. Death Ray and I were blessed with the good fortune to adopt a baby girl. Shortly after we brought her home, my mother and father traveled from the Commonwealth of Virginia (where they live, where I grew up) to the State of Louisiana (where I know live) to meet their newest granddaughter for the first time. They planned to spend three weeks with us, helping us settle in and cope with the shock of being new parents. Shortly after that they would embark on a cruise with other family members. Since none of this was scheduled in a way that made showing up to vote on November 4 particularly convenient, they arranged to have their absentee ballots mailed to my apartment.
So it was that I was able to witness both of my parents vote for Barack Obama. And Tuesday night I saw them turn the Commonwealth of Virginia blue.
I am 37 years old. I did my part in this election. Mrs. Death Ray and I took advantage of Louisiana's early voting and we both cast our ballots for Barack Obama (and Mary Landrieu). I'm proud of doing that. I sleep better knowing I did that, and I'm happy to contribute to the popular vote tally of President-Elect Obama. What's more, I'm proud that I will be able to tell my daughter about Obama, what he did, and what her parents did to help.
But Louisiana didn't go for Obama. We knew it wouldn't, of course -- it's far too red. At best, we did our part to increase the Democratic Senate majority and we turned Louisiana slightly pink (which, given the apparent defeat of California's Proposition 8, probably has the Louisiana Republican Party in fits anyway, but that's beside the point). Our vote for Obama was symbolic, a casualty of our electoral college.
I don't mind symbols. Symbols are powerful. The fact that 40% of Louisiana voted for a black man named Barack Hussein Obama is actually a pretty powerful one as far as symbols go. But my parents actually helped add 13 electoral votes to Obama's total. 13 electoral votes that two years ago nobody would have considered possible for a Democrat to grab. They did it.
And not just them, obviously. And not just Northern Virginia, either -- Northern Virginia will probably get a lion's share of the credit, and a large portion of that credit is probably justified... but there wasn't a single county in Virginia that went for John McCain 100%. There were voters all over the Commonwealth who wanted Virginia to go for Obama. 31% of the voters in Bedford, 38% in Pittsylvania, 35% in Smyth, 33% in Washington, 27% in Scott... none of these numbers seem particularly impressive on their own, but they were all needed to get Barack Obama 51%, John McCain 48%.
My parents turned the Commonwealth of Virginia blue.
This was a very good day.