Election '08 - The Best of Times, The Worst of Times!

The Day has finally come. Our Herculean efforts of the last year, especially those since that fateful 31st day of May, have made history and achieved miracles: everything from getting Hillary on the Ballot in Denver, forming a coalition of brilliant, committed, hardworking patriots, traveling all over the country to the Conventions and campaigning for the candidate of our choice, successfully executing organized PUMA Prowls, and attaining international recognition for the PUMA movement has brought us to the present day. We have pulled together from the bottom of utmost despair at the realization that our Party and its shallow leaders had lied, coopted our voting laws, violated our Constitution and betrayed us to form a widespread, powerful coalition of renewed initiative.

Our last act of this Phase II, as I have been wont to call the aeon between Convention and Election Day, will end with our vote and, like a New Year, ring in the start of Phase III, better known as our ongoing work for reform in our media, political system and voting system. As Heidi Li Feldman so succinctly wrote in her inspirational blog today, this is the day of New Resolve: http://tdg.typepad.com/heidi_lis_potpourri/2008/11/resolved.html I urge all to click on her link to read and remember her wise words as we move forward into our next succession of steps. And so must we remember our promise for November: We Will Remember and we HAVE!

Having cast my absentee ballot last week for McCain/Palin, I continue my tenure here in Scranton, with last minute phone banks, election transportation and emergency absentee ballots. It is an exciting day--despite the direness of CNN's All-Day-All- Obama coverage and biased "landslide" polls, we are finding about 50% of the voters we've called have voted for McCain--Up a whopping 20% from 30% 10 days ago!

More exciting still, Joe and Mike from our Main Avenue Scranton office went out to deliver an emergency absentee ballot to the hospital for a woman who delivered a baby last night! People have been stopping by to volunteer in the phone bank, sent food for our Democrats For McCain workers and drive people to the polls. Those on the emergency absentee detail met with the Lackawanna duty judge to obtain permissions--the first female judge in Lackawanna County!

Tonight we will all head toward our respective gatherings to console or to celebrate--and, regardless of what the result, we do have a lot to celebrate! Phase III =has already begun way as we finally head home for some rest and restoration before embarking on the path toward Resolve and Resolution, and celebrate ourselves for our hard work, commitment and patriotism at a time when it would have been easy to give up in despair.

Today is a perfect day to revisit our Declaration of Independence: to read carefully the words that we all hold to be self evident.

"We must indeed hang together or assuredly we shall hang singly."
--Thomas Paine

"Give me Liberty or give me death."
--Patrick Henry