Reflections on Election 2008 in a small town without a sheriff

[mlevans]

I am exhausted...bordering on ecstatic. Maybe I could use a vacation, but unfortunately I won't get one at present. It looks like we picked up a number of seats in our State Legislature also yesterday, which means we'll have to plug the new reps into the system, make up Web pages for them and so forth. I didn't get much rest last night. It was just about impossible to sleep. And I probably
shouldn't have had so much to eat and drink either, and will certainly pay for it as the day goes by. Tonight I'll crash.

I spoke to my son on the phone just after MSNBC announced California for Obama last night; he was in Grant Park in Chicago (lives on Chicago's South Side near Barack's old neighborhood), and even over the phone the excitement level was incredible. Should I lay out details of the entire day? I should? Very well...

Got up yesterday morning around 5 a.m. and drove to three precincts in succession to put up campaign signs at their respective polling places. I remained at the third polling place, the Penn Twp. Fire Company, and handed out literature from 7:00-1:00. This was a very different experience than I was accustomed to, because although we live in an exceptionally conservative area, so many people coming out were giving me the thumbs-up, or crossing their fingers and saying fervently "I hope he makes it!"...or even giving me a big smile and saying "I voted for you!" (which really confused me, leading me to wonder just what office I was running for).

At 1:00 I picked up the first tearsheets from 2 precincts and delivered them to the people who would call those who hadn't voted yet. I grabbed a very hasty lunch, which I ate in my car, parked outside a fourth precinct. From 3:00-5:00 I was poll watching at that precinct, then at 5:00 I took those tearsheets to a phone caller and went to pick up the sheets from two more precincts (understand, this is a very rural area, the precincts are our townships, and driving around between them can take from 40 minutes to an hour). Stopped home to feed the pets and clean up the dog shit off the living room rug.

Drove into town to the party headquarters, paid a call at the Obama office, came back to party HQ. Stayed way too late...eating, drinking, being interviewed by local newspaper, and leaping up and down, clapping and cheering. Helped clean up some of the mess afterwards. Went home and fell into bed. Sleep? Hah! A highly overrated commodity...and on November 4, 2008, nearly impossibly to obtain anyway.

The fact that my story from yesterday is not in the least bit unique, has echoes and resonations and all that good stuff with so many, many others across our country, tickles me no end. I have been waiting for this since Bobby Kennedy was taken so cruelly from us, and at last the dreams have borne fruit. It has been worth everything we put into it and more. Together we have made history.