OK, I know it's been a long time.  2004 seems almost lost in the mists of history.  I wasn't posting here then, I wasn't even reading blogs then.  Thank God, because what I've read about the Dean/Kerry/Edwards/Clark wars makes me not sorry I missed them.

So did you have a moment here, when you understood what was at stake?  When you all agreed that primaries are not like general elections?  Because during a primary arguing among ourselves is part of the deal.  At that point we have the luxury of asking candidates to compete for our support.

He's the nominee.  You don't have to like him.  You might have voted for someone else.  But if you are here, I am going to assume it is because you want what I want.  You want Obama in the White House.  You want a frickin' tidal wave of blue washing through the land, picking up lots of new House seats, Senate seats, Governorships, maybe even flipping one or two state legislatures.

You want it?  Pony up.  You should be holding nothing back.

Because he's the nominee, that's why.

Today Barack Obama rolls out a new policy proposal.  It isn't huge.  It isn't about universal health care, Iraq withdrawal or stopping global climate change - his three top policy priorities as President.  But it is important.  It represents a clear pushback against a signature Bush Administration initiative and a restoration of constitutional principles.

At a speech in Ohio, Obama unveiled his proposal for a new Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.   It both expands the federal government's partnership with faith-based organizations and reins it in, by strengthening how the program can meet policy goals and requiring it to abide by stronger church-state separation protections.

Oddly, the early reporting on this program is stupendously wrong- claiming that Obama's proposal guts existing anti-discrimination law that applies to religious organizations.  In fact, Obama's proposal reaffirms the protections of current law and states he intends to apply them.  This error also distracts from the ways this proposal respects both religious organizations and secular values.

On a shelf in my office sits a dusty white baseball cap, which says "Hats Off to Hillary!" in bright red letters.  I have a growing pile of Obama momentos, but for over ten years I have held onto that hat, and what it symbolizes.  I acquired it some time during the second Clinton Administration - I believe it was an event honoring Hillary Clinton's publication of It Takes A Village.  I was thrilled to be there and hear her speak, and to take home the hat.

Hillary Clinton has run an incredible race, and shown that women can and should compete at the highest level of politics.  She likely has much of a long and successful political career still ahead of her.  Although I have supported her primary opponent since the beginning, I have always tried to frame my advocacy in ways that did not come at her expense.

And I always knew she would do the right thing, in the end.  Hats off to Hillary.

This week, Barack Obama lost a big advantage.  No one, ever again, is likely to underestimate him.  For a long time, he could rest secure in the knowledge that most of his opponents - inside and outside the Democratic Party - had no idea what they were up against.  

He could craft a winning strategy right in plain sight.  Forget that - he could share his voter file and major aspects of his entire campaign plan with millions of total strangers, secure in the knowledge that the people who should have been paying attention would dismiss his path to victory as improbable at best.

Most of all, he could enjoy watching his opponents get really excited about his supposed "mistakes" and "weaknesses," knowing all the while they were truly assets.  And knowing as well that he was far more ready than anyone understood to deal with his true mistakes and weaknesses.

Well, it was fun while it lasted.  Surely the McCain campaign won't make that mistake, right?

My mother voted for Hillary Clinton.  Both her kids voted for Barack Obama.  And one of those kids – me – has been volunteering for the Obama campaign since August.  Anyone who has read my diaries over the last year knows how passionately I believe that Barack Obama should be the next President of the United States.

And I have exactly no issues with how my mother voted.  None.  More than that – I understand and respect her choice.  Guess what?  She understands and respects mine.   And my family, chock full of political junkies and campaign activists, has been split on the Democratic primary for over a year without a single nasty word or spilled tear.  No one threw the mashed potatoes across the table at Christmas dinner, despite the potential for high tension over the upcoming Iowa caucus.

So how did we do it?   One simple premise – who you choose to vote for is not a test of your worthiness as a member of the human race.

Today two Presidential campaigns came full circle, each finding in the other a piece of their core message.  Since 2004, both Barack Obama and John Edwards have been talking about One America on the national stage -- in different and complimentary ways.

It seems entirely fitting, then, to see them together on the stage tonight, talking about the goal they share.  One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

In 2004 I voted for Edwards.  In 2008 I voted for Obama.  I am happy to see them campaign together for the change we need this November.  One America just got a little bit closer.    

I came back here on Friday.  I came back to my hometown, to the city where I was born and raised, to team up with my fellow Hoosiers working for Obama.  I've been working almost nonstop since I arrived, and in five hours I have to be up and on my way out for GOTV.  My feet are aching, I haven't had a real meal since 8 this morning, and I'm not sure when I'll have one again.  

But my heart is soaring, because Indianapolis turned out big for Barack tonight.   In spite of rain, in spite of the late hour, in spite of everything that has been thrown at his campaign for the last two months.

21,000 Hoosiers gathered in the heart of the city, in the shadow of the historic War Memorial, to be part of a movement for change - a multiracial, multigenerational coalition determined to take back our government and make it work for us again.  I never thought I would see this -- not here.

If this can happen here, it can happen anywhere.  It can happen everywhere.

Yesterday, I wrote about Changing the Math:

Lots of people think Barack Obama is a lawyer.  Turns out he's a mathematician.

As we know, he can count delegates.  He has deployed his forces strategically to keep the delegate count close even where he's at a large structural disadvantage (OH, PA, CA), while identifying the places he can run up the score (the month of February).  This is the kind of campaign I trust to figure out electoral vote math.

Now we learn Obama wants to harness the power of technology to reshape who wields power in the electorate.  He wants to bring in enough new voters to destabilize all our assumptions about where and how Democrats can win.   Obama's potential to "Change the Map" just got bigger - with an unprecedented 50-state voter registration drive that can change the electoral math for a generation.  

Today Joe Andrew endorsed Barack Obama, saying  

Winners redefine the game.

.  Vote for Change is a signature Obama initiative - it redefines the game.

Lots of people think Barack Obama is a lawyer.  Turns out he's a mathematician.

As we know, he can count delegates.  He has deployed his forces strategically to keep the delegate count close even where he's at a large structural disadvantage (OH, PA, CA), while identifying the places he can run up the score (the month of February).  This is the kind of campaign I trust to figure out electoral vote math.

Now we learn Obama wants to harness the power of technology to reshape who wields power in the electorate.  He wants to bring in enough new voters to destabilize all our assumptions about where and how Democrats can win.   Obama's potential to "Change the Map" just got bigger - with an unprecedented 50-state voter registration drive that can change the electoral math for a generation.  

This program will not only help put Obama in the White House, but also pay dividends for Democrats all the way down the ballot in November, and even bigger dividends for the Democratic Party in years to come.  

There are deep forces at work here, while we're busy talking pastors or whatever the color and model number of this week's kitchen sink is.  Forget the sideshow.  Barack Obama is busy Changing the Math.

Like I've said before, one key reason to support Obama is his clear dedication to the 50-state strategy.  I was with some other Bay Area volunteer leaders last night getting briefed on a brand-new campaign initiative that takes this to a whole new level.

On Saturday, May 10, Obama for America will kick off a 50-state, nationwide voter registration drive on an unprecedented scale.

So while Barack Obama is still facing a primary opponent, he is already thinking way ahead to the General Election.  And he's thinking not just about how he can eke out a swing state victory - he's thinking much, much bigger.  He's thinking about how to build the Democratic Party nationwide by bringing in more new voters than any national candidate ever.  He is doing it the same way he's set record fundraising levels and won more delegates, states and votes than Hillary Clinton.  

Gate, meet your latest crashers.

As we all know, yesterday Barack Obama delivered one for the history books.  Many here and elsewhere have heralded his speech for its eloquence, depth and moral clarity on the racial divisions that Americans continue to struggle with.  Commenters have remarked on its honesty, integrity and call for understanding on all sides.

Yesterday, Barack Obama formally crossed "the Swiftboat Threshold."  The attacks he faced over his personal association with a religious figure are a textbook example of what we now call "swiftboating."  

This is the test that we now demand Democratic nominees be able to withstand.  Obama has passed it with flying colors.  And, as usual, he refused to take the conventional approach.  In the end, swiftboating succeeds by instilling fear in candidates and their supporters.  All too often, even "successful" Democratic responses reflect that fear by avoidance, distance or escalation - strategies which only encourage more attacks.

Instead, Barack Obama showed very clearly he is not afraid.  He will not run from who he is.  It turns out the only thing we have to fear from swiftboating is fear itself.

A truly great speech has both a powerful text and a powerful context.  Barack Obama's speech today in Philadelphia had both.  Coming to the podium this morning, everyone said he needed to respond to and explain his relationship with Rev. Wright.  He did far more.

He took on the much larger and more difficult problem of racism - one of the most painful moral and political divides in America.  He reminded us what we owe to each other across that divide, from both sides.

Almost four decades ago, a Presidential candidate often compared with Barack Obama confronted a similar context.  Facing the charge that you are not "one of us" because of religion, then-Senator John F. Kennedy responded by laying claim to who we are.  

The United States has a unique history, marred both by the gravest intolerance and the most expansive promise of inclusion.  While recognizing the reality of one, these Senators asked us to live up to the other.

Tomorrow voters in four states will participate in selecting our nominee.  Voters in 38 previous primaries and caucuses have had their say.  Turnout is through the roof.  The Democratic Party is excited, engaged, and  very serious about making the right choice from an incredibly deep field.

The media has twice tried - and mercifully failed - to presumptively coronate our nominee and short-circuit the process.  Before anyone voted or caucused, we were informed that Senator Clinton was going to win this thing going away.  The days between Iowa and New Hampshire we were informed that Senator Obama would take it after only a couple of contests.  Shockingly, real people all over the country decided that they would determine their own destiny, and demanded that these two remaining candidates prove their worth.  And they have both fought hard to win the chance to stand as the nominee at this crucial time.

As a supporter of Barack Obama, I see this as the best possible scenario.  He has had a golden opportunity to show what he can offer to the Democratic Party and the nation - not just the politics of inspiration, but of participation.

It's Valentine's Day, and I'm sitting in NY while my Valentine and our kids are all the way across the country in CA.  I'm missing them, and I'll only be away 48 hours.  But I'm doing work that I care about, and that might even matter a bit in the larger scheme of things.  It's a painful tradeoff.

So this news item about Barack and Michelle Obama especially caught my eye:

He's taking Valentine's Day off:

A sign of confidence? A little thank-you to his wife for tolerating his presidential ambitions?

In the thick of his primary battle with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama is taking Valentine's Day off. Obama and his wife of more than 15 years, Michelle, are spending the afternoon with their two daughters, Sasha and Malia, before going out to dinner in Chicago, according to his campaign. No events, no interviews, no nothing -- just a little family time and a little romance. No word yet on gifts, or whether he's still got that BlackBerry on his hip.

He misses his family.  He needs to take one night to put them first, in the middle of the political fight of his life.  I'm liking his priorities.  

It's early, yet.  Still dark out.  The polls open out here in California in a couple of hours.  I'm waiting for my ride down to the campaign office.  Somehow Election Day doesn't feel right unless it starts before dawn.

It is almost a year to the day.  In early February, 2007, I watched Barack Obama's formal announcement that he would seek the Democratic Presidential nomination.  I had already decided then that I wanted to support his run.

Back then, I had no idea that I would be sitting here on the edge of my seat.  I could never have forseen this year.  I had no idea I was about to embark on this wild ride that has been the California campaign.  Right now, I am beyond fired up.  This is the most important thing I have ever done in my life.  I am right in the middle of the most exciting and significant Presidential contest in California in more than a generation.  And my experience gives me hope.

I really don't have time for this, you know.  I have all kinds of responsibilities I've been shirking.  I've barely seen my kids this week.  I'm living on coffee, chocolate, bad pizza and adrenaline.  I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.  

Being part of the Obama campaign feels like the most important thing I've ever done in my life.  The stakes couldn't be higher.  And we've gone from nowhere to serious contenders after months of tough, almost invisible work.  Finally, we are seeing the results, we are gaining.  Will it be enough?

In less than 72 hours, the polls close in California.  I've got hope.

Last Wednesday, I gave my perspective on Obama's California field operation as a volunteer member of one of the Congressional District organizing teams - The 100,000 Things You Need to Know About Barack Obama in CA.  One of the things I talked about was our commitment to retail politics in California at a level that hasn't been seen in more than a generation.

On Saturday, we set a statewide goal of making 100,000 phone calls in a single day.  As far as I know, that would set the record for single-day political phonebanking in California.

Late yesterday, I got the final number:  more than 220,000 calls.  I'm not surprised, because the Oakland phone bank where I worked was flooded.  More than 300 volunteers came in to make phone calls just at that one location.

This weekend we set a phone bank record, and picked up critical new California endorsements, including Rep. Xavier Becerra and the San Francisco Chronicle.  We have our work cut out for us here, but now we have added momentum, too.  California is in play.  

Or the 5,080 things.  Or the 53 things.  I'm talking about the "insane" Obama campaign strategy:  running a grassroots field program in California.  Can't be done, right?  Too big, too expensive, not worth it.  He's doing it anyway.  And I love being part of it.

Here's just a few of the elements:  100,000 phone calls statewide in a single day.  5,080 precinct captains.  Volunteer-based organizing teams across California's 53 congressional districts.  Canvasses and phone calls up and down the state.

I can tell you (and I have) about the many reasons I am volunteering basically all of my free time to try to make Barack Obama the next President of the United States.  But the way he genuinely believes in running a grassroots, 50-state primary campaign is a huge one.

And it is perhaps (with apologies to  Just Angry for borrowing your title) the only thing you need to know about Barack Obama.