Hi. My name is Vanya, and I'm a political junkie. Yes, an addict.
It has gotten much worse over the last month and a half. I even lost my job as a software project manager this past Friday, and instead of changing the nature of my addiction, it has only made it worse. Over the last three days, I've been living on several websites like this one with scarcely a break to shower or eat. (OK, so I'm exaggerating a little here!)
I've been reading so many polls, opinions, so much punditry and dare I say it- hope, that I don't know what I'm going to do on Wednesday morning.
It's going to be very difficult. I'm sitting and running simulations of outcomes of the presidential race, and having a hard time when the numbers come back showing fewer than 350 electoral votes for Obama. My kids- five-year-old Nicholas and ten-year-old Alexander sat and we took turns pushing the button to start the simulations, cheering every time the blue tally crested 270.
We're counting on seeing 57 or more Democratic seats in the next US Senate. We're counting on seeing 265 or more Democratic seats in the next House of Representatives. We're looking forward to seeing the rising star who is Darcy Burner represent our friends in Redmond and Bellevue. We're looking forward to seeing the politics of hate and division trounced by hope and the greater good.
It might not all happen. Things could end up drastically different than we hope, but we've done what we can, and after the final poll closes, and all is said and done, we're anticipating a spectacular dawn of a new era. There seems to be a dramatic result about once a generation- Reagan, JFK before that, and so on; and we're about due twenty-eight years after the last time the political map was redrawn.
I know there are others like me out there. You need to take a moment to give yourself permission to exult in it, when it happens. Raise a glass in celebration, if you will, tomorrow evening; but remember all the work which went into it- whether in this campaign, in the primaries, during the mid-term election two years ago, the Kerry race four years ago, or whenever we first got active.
And if the unspeakable should happen, let's take a minute to console ourselves and grieve, and start working on the 2010 races. But the numbers all look good, and we should see some amazing things tomorrow. So, whether you're at the Westin in Seattle with us, at home, or at an election night party anywhere in the world, remember the opportunity and the privilege we have in being able to participate in the process.