Tonight, everyone in North America will get an extra hour, as we turn our clocks back at 2 AM local time.
What will you do with that extra hour?
Do not use that second two-to-three-a.m. hour to make GOTV calls. It's ok to make them at two-to-three-p.m., but even the most devoted supporter does not want a 3AM phone call less than a hundred hours before election day.
We all need our sleep, so we can get up at 6 AM on Tuesday morning to head to our assigned polling station to either vote, or be supportive outside, or be a poll attorney inside, or be a poll worker, or start driving people to the polls, so you might be tempted to use that extra hour to bank your sleep. This would be a very good use of the extra hour.
Or you could use that extra hour to check your smoke and carbon monoxide detector, and change the batteries. As Pennsylvania's State Fire Commissioner Edward A. Mann said recently, "Autumn is a good time to make sure that your alarms are working properly because, as the weather gets colder, many people start using fireplaces and other supplemental sources of heat, which, if not used safely and correctly, present a potential fire hazard." Of course, if you have to go to the store to purchase batteries - or even a new carbon monoxide detector, if you don't already have one - wear your OBAMA/BIDEN button and do some GOTV work in the store!
If you'd rather spend your extra hour in front of the computer, you don't have to spend it obsessing over the polling sites or refreshing your most recent diary to see if anyone else has voted on pie in your poll. Instead, do something cheerful and inspirational - watch some of the Greatest Hits of the Campaign on YouTube.
Start with last week's infomercial, then spend ten minutes with Don't Vote part one and part two. Four and a half minutes with will.i.am's Yes We Can will bring you to about 45 minutes, so you've got fifteen minutes left. I'd spend them watching Les Misbarack and Springsteen's performance of The Rising in Columbus last month, but you should choose whatever most inspires you to spend three more days on GOTV and at the polls.
But if you're in the mood to write, put your dreams for the next eight years and beyond into an email, or a text message, and send it to your friends and family. Make one more donation. Donate your Facebook status to get out the vote for Obama.
Or just spend it looking out your window at this great country we live in, and think about how the day may dawn on Wednesday morning over a nation that has taken a bold step back in the direction of hope for everyone.
ETA Oops in the Poll: Where it says "Refresh this site over and over again. It is called" it's supposed to be "Refresh this site over and over again. It is called 'Every Five Minute Kos', right? (paraphrasing 236.com)"