Preparing For The Election

So, The Day Before The Day. I'm nervous, I have to admit. The pessimist in me is yelling loudly, convinced of an upset, of the worst in people, of Doom and Gloom, and four years of listening to McCain yell and Palin blather on. Tomorrow will be a long day for everyone. One of my best friends is working at the polls, so she'll be exhausted. And I'll be up bright and early to do my hour-by-hour coverage of the Election. Part of the reason I'm so excited, I think is because this is the first election where I believe in the person I'm voting for.In 2004, I sent in an absentee ballot for John Kerry (and getting that damn absentee ballot was a challenge in itself), but I wasn't happy about it. I didn't like John Kerry, or respect him. That election was all about Getting Bush Out Of Office, and we all remember how well THAT worked for everyone. It's not enough to vote AGAINST something; you need to be voting FOR something. I can die happy knowing I didn't vote for Bush, but considering it was my first election, it left a bad taste in my mouth and a sense of shame in the whole electoral process.This time is different. This time, I WANT Obama to win. I agree with most of what he says, I believe in him. It's that simple. And that has made this election far more personal for me. I am voting FOR what I believe in, for my rights as a woman and as a human being. I am voting AGAINST something, of course. I hate McCain's economic policies, his stance on abortion, his attitude towards gay marriage, his foreign policy, his plans for the Wretched War, and the fact that every time someone puts a camera on him he starts howling about what a monster his opponent is. He also really seems to hate Joe Biden. Like, he wants to bite him. That's neither here nor there, but it is unsettling. And Sarah Palin makes me ashamed of my reproductive organs. But it's not about them. It's less that I don't want them to win, and more that I DO want Barack Obama to be the next President. On MSNBC, they're saying that it would be very hard for McCain to win. I really, really want to believe that. But after the last few elections, I've become inherently suspicious. They're also saying this may be the biggest voter turnout since women got the right to vote. I want my generation to stand up, to vote, to get off their asses and FIGHT FOR SOMETHING THAT MATTERS. I'm not sure I can handle the day after the election, all the pundits on TV bitching about how twenty-somethings couldn't get it together to vote. Don't make me live through that, people.I'll be updating frequently today, as a warm-up for tomorrow.Once again, please vote. And PLEASE tune in tomorrow, and tell your friends, neighbors, or link to this site. PLEASE? I'll give you a cookie. And rainbows. Rainbows of cookies. - LV

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