When the race for the Whitehouse started almost two years ago, I was initially an Edwards supporter. I really liked his populace tone and felt he was the one to finally stand up for the middle class. He admitted he was wrong about his Iraq war vote and it seemed to me that he was leading a charge to turn things around.
As I watched the primary debates, I saw Hillary Clinton basically pound home her message and taking center stage. I knew nothing about Barack Obama at the time and figured he would be one of the first to drop out and become an "also ran." As the debates continued, I watched Barack Obama get better and better and slowly but surely take center stage along with Hillary Clinton, leaving my candidate in the dust.
The more I learned about Barack Obama, the more I liked. I liked the fact that he opposed the Iraq war from the start. Even though he wasn't a U.S. Senator at the time, it still took courage to stand firm in his convictions against the onslaught of bloodthirst that would later be defined as "patriotism" coming from every side. I liked his healthcare plan a lot better than Hillary's and I liked the fact that he was intimately familiar with our Constitution (as opposed to George Bush's intimate familiarity with it in using it as toilet paper).
I felt my candidate was going to lose and lose badly so I took a trip to North Carolina to talk to some of my political friends about Edwards. They didn't like him at all for one reason or another and by the time Edwards pulled out of the race prior to the February 5th primaries, I wasn't heartbroken.
So now I was torn between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. I didn't care for the negative attacks coming from Hillary but understood it was part of the process. I admired the way Obama tried to stay above the fray so he was edging up in my book. What sold me on fully supporting Barack Obama was when Hillary commented about using nukes against Iran. That was the snapshot in time where I knew I couldn't support her as President and that night I made my first donation to the Obama campaign.
This didn't sit well with the wife as she was a big-time supporter of Hillary. She didn't like Obama because she didn't know him. She knew Hillary and had been following her career for quite a while. Needless to say, we had a few interesting political conversations but never an argument.
The more I listened to Obama during the remaining primary debates, the more he resonated with me. He had a way of putting voice to the very concerns I was worried about. By the time the DNC rolled around, I was thrilled Obama would be the candidate for President. I was equally thrilled Joe Biden had been tapped for his VP. It was at Obama's acceptance speech that my wife started coming around and when Palin was chosen as McCain's VP, that solidified the deal. In my wife's words, "even if I didn't like Obama, I could NEVER support McCain."
I've watched with interest as the polls fluctuated between the two candidates. I listened to stump speeches and read reports of the ground game being waged. By the time the first debate rolled around, I was sitting on pins and needles. Am I the only one who gets nervous before the debates? Why was I nervous? Because I felt this country was on the verge of something truly incredible and I didn't want anything to go wrong to disrupt it. Yes, I was a hand-wringer sitting there white knuckled watching as Obama performed admirably through the first debate.
I felt better going into the second debate even though the "townhall" setting was supposed to be McCain's strength. I was still nervous though and caught myself looking at my watch during the debate and thinking, "Ok, you only have 30 more minutes to go. Please don't screw this up!" Once again, Obama came through with flying colors. So he had now successfully debated on foreign policy, a supposed weakness of the Democratic party, and handily won during the townhall debate. Speaking of which, the most striking thing to me about the debate was when McCain took off right after and Barack and Michelle Obama hung around for half an hour shaking hands, signing autographs and talking to the voters.
Tonight the third and final debate is approaching. This time, I'm not worried. The pundits have been spooling up the idea that it will get ugly and it very well may. But as my support for Obama has evolved, so has my admiration. This is a candidate who has done his homework and has strategically planned his run for the presidency with astounding ability. I watched as Obama and Biden both goaded McCain into bring up Ayers at tonight's debate. Why would they do this? Because they knew he would take the bait. They knew McCain would never let an assault on his courage or "manly hood" go unchallenged. I have three possible reasons why McCain was goaded into bringing this up:
(1) Obama can directly tell the millions of Americans watching exactly what his connection to Ayers is. He can quell the "who is Barack Obama" meme the McCain campaign is pushing leaving McCain with nothing else. All without spending a dime in defensive advertising rendering null and void McCain's and the RNC's negative campaign.
(2) Obama can remind voters this is a distraction and while the economy is crumbling, people are losing their jobs and retirements, and there is general unease across the country, McCain doesn't want to address any of these issues.
(3) He can blast McCain for his own connections to unsavory individuals. I don't think Obama will go here as that hasn't been his method thus far. I think he knows that the negative attacks are not attracting voters but rather are pushing them away.
This election season has been a wild ride and it isn't over yet. I think back to the story of the tortoise and the hare. The hare was far out in front and before finishing, rested on his laurels and subsequently lost the race. I don't see Obama doing so and I don't see his supporters doing so either. We are almost there and it's time to make the last push to the finish line.
So tonight I am going to calmly sit and watch the next President eviscerate a spoiled brat. I'm going to watch it with glee. Tomorrow, it'll be back to spreading the word and getting voters into the booth.