Four years ago, Republicans won the governor’s race in Maine by less than 18 votes per precinct. 18 votes!
In 2008, Al Franken won election against Norm Coleman by 315 votes.
A tax levy to fund Lakeview, Ohio schools, passed in 2010 by 2 votes.
Massachusetts' 1839 gubernatorial election was decided by two votes.
New Hampshire's 1974 United States Senate election was decided by two votes.
In Washington State's 2004 gubernatorial election, Democrat Christine Gregoire defeated Republican Dino Rossi by 133 votes.
During Oklahoma's 2006 state elections, Republican Todd Thomsen beat Democrat Darrel Nemecek by two votes.
In a 2012 New York State Senate race, Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk defeated Republican George Amedore by 18 votes. 18 people made all the difference.
No one believed our campaign had a chance in a district hand-carved by Republicans, and yet the power of good ideas and a strong campaign proved itself," Tkaczyk said in a statement. "...I look forward to hitting the ground running to serve my new constituents because there is no time to waste addressing the many challenges facing our state."
Only one other Senate race in recent times was closer: last year's win in Brooklyn by Republican David Storobin over Lew Fidler by 13 votes in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Democrat Carl Kruger's resignation.
In 2004, Yonkers Republican Nick Spano defeated Andrea Stewart-Cousins by 18 votes. (Stewart-Cousins took the seat two years later and now leads the chamber's Democratic conference).
And the list goes on.
Your vote matters greatly. Your vote determines the future for us all.
Those who want us to feel powerless, cynical, and uninvolved know that. Those who are working to take away our right to vote, know that. We cannot give them what they want.
Last week, President Obama was in Maine speaking at a rally for Democratic Candidate for Governor, Mike Michaud. President Obama's words on the choice we all must make between despair and hope has stayed with me ever since.
So often, the people in power seem to be more concerned about getting more power than making sure that they’re doing right by the people who sent them. And when you get discouraged, they’re counting on you getting discouraged and cynical. They want you to think you’re not going to make a difference. So you don’t get involved, and you won’t organized, you won’t vote. And everybody gets caught up in this sense of sort of helplessness. Even when there are good decisions to be made right there that would make a difference in people’s lives, nobody actually thinks they can happen.
And I’m here to tell you, don’t buy into that cynicism. Because despite what the cynics say, America is making progress. It’s always making progress. That’s what the American people do. They’re strivers and dreamers, and they care about one another. We care about each other.
And despite unyielding opposition over these last six years, there are workers with jobs who didn’t have them before. There are families with health insurance who didn’t have them before. There are students going to college who couldn’t afford to attend it before. There are troops who have come home from Iraq and Afghanistan and are now with their families. (Applause.)
Cynicism didn’t make that happen. Cynicism didn’t put a man on the moon. Cynicism has never ended a war, or cured disease, or built a business, or taught a young mind. Cynicism is a choice that you make. And it’s being fed to you all the time -- don’t accept it. (Applause.)
Hope is a better choice. Hope is what gives those soldiers in World War II the courage to storm a beach. Hope is what allows young people to march on behalf of women’s rights, and worker’s rights, and civil rights, and voting rights, and gay rights, and immigration rights. (Applause.)
Hope -- in the better days that are ahead, if we are working together -- that’s with Mike Michaud stands for. That’s what this election is about. (Applause.) Hope is what built America. Show that you still have hope, and go out there and vote on November 4th.
The President believes in us. I think he always has. It's time we did too. It's time we remembered who we are and where we come from.
We are the legacy of people who fought against slavery. We are the legacy of people who fought for child labor laws and the forty hour work week. We are the legacy of people who fought for clean air and water. We are the legacy of people who fought for safe food. We are the legacy of people who fought for Social Security and Medicare. We are the legacy of people who fought for Civil Rights. We are the legacy of people who fought for Women's Rights. We are the legacy of people who fought for LGBT and Immigrant rights. We are the legacy of people who fought against Jim Crow.
We are the legacy of people who risked it all to bend the arc of the moral universe towards Justice.
We are the people who are still fighting to save this beautiful blue world and our children's futures.
We are the people out knocking on doors for Mike Michaud in the middle of yesterday's Maine Nor'easter.
We are the people who stood in long lines to vote early in North Carolina.
We are the people making phone calls, talking to our neighbors, and driving folks to the voting booth.
We are the people of the Moral Mondays Movement who know that "...an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
We are the people who are NOT going to sit down and shut up - for this is our country, our government.
We're taking back our determination, our hope, and our futures.