Not quite 4 years ago, the country saw a leader emerge onto the national stage.  A state senator, who had just scraped out a win against a tough primary field to take on Jack Ryan, spoke on the one night the MSM didn't cover the convention.  And he said:

I'd appreciate you reading this all the way through - reccing and spreading.

I'm a pretty strong Obama supporter - have been since before the announcement.  I donated (first time), phone-banked (not first time) and until this weekend - hadn't canvassed.  IL didn't really need it and I missed out on both WI and OH for a variety of reasons.  I didn't make it though and I felt bad.  I've been working on NC voters the whole time - since I'm from there (and cast an absentee ballot there).

By now, your mind is clean from all of the spin cycles we've seen.  She lost a 20% lead, so he did better. She held on and has momentum.  The mainstream media sucks (OK, that's not so much spin but truth).  And that's a fun game to play sometimes.  We had an election - now we can all play Wednesday morning quarterback.  We can watch Hardball and Countdown like sports fans do SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight. But at the end of the day, we should all gather to say:

Oh yeah.  I went there.  While Barack and Hillary are finishing up PA today and Guam, Indiana and NC are in the next two weeks, it's time to start focusing on the Republican nominee.

Senator John Sydney McCain.

What makes him any worse than a normal Republican?  Plenty, but today I'll focus on this.

Tomorrow is the Pennsylvania primary and we appreciate their votes to help decide the Democratic nominee.  I say Senator Clinton wins by 11.8 - 55.9-44.1 or so, as late deciders have historically gone for her.

But here's the real deal - the BREAKING news of it all - what do we do about her momentum?  Sure, Barack's got a lead in NC and who knows what's going on in IN (with it's different polls).  What about Guam?  Is she going to try to swing this victory into an IN win and a Guam victory - pulling it close in NC?

Holy crap - is this the way to win an election or what?  Senator Clinton just lost 1,000,000 supporters in order to gain a few more votes in a state she was already going to win handily.

Clinton has been leading Obama by anywhere from 5-20 points over the last few weeks.  Most people expect that the really close polls are outliers and that the margin of victory lies somewhere around 12 points (especially with the amount of undecideds and how they generally go for her in the last couple of days).  (The only way this margin changes is if we call and donate, btw.)

I must admit that the junior Senator from Illinois is far nicer than I am.  I am not a part of his campaign; however, I have (and will continue to) volunteer to support his candidacy.  With that said, I hope to include as much vetting in this diary as I can about Senator Hillary Clinton.  Suggestions welcomed.

Just to be clear - this was Senator Clinton's idea - during tonight's debate she said:

...there were so many different variations on the explanations that we heard. And it is something that I think deserves further exploration...

It is clear that, as leaders, we have a choice who we associate with and who we apparently give some kind of seal of approval to. ...

And so this is a legitimate area, as everything is when we run for office, for people to be exploring and trying to find answers.

John McCain.

Neo-conservatives.  George W. Bush.  Fox News.

Rep. Boehner, Sen. McConnell, Justice Roberts/Scalia/Alito.

My first primary vote was in 2004 - John Kerry had sewn up the nomination by the time NC got to vote, so I voted for the person I thought had the best policies on GLBT folks.

My first presidential general election was for Kerry - I was there when the doors to the precinct opened and cast ballot 67.  Later, I stood outside holding umbrellas when the rain came in the afternoon.  That election was hard for me - everyone I voted for, including the one Republican (local state rep who opposed privatizing mental health in NC - a big issue to me), lost.

(My absentee ballot, mostly filled out):

Barack needs to come out and say, simply, "Aren't you pissed?  Aren't you mad as hell and not taking it anymore?"

We have CEOs making millions per month with families unable to pull in enough for health insurance and prescriptions.

We have defense companies making billions while the actual soldiers have piss-poor conditions in Walter Reed and VA hospitals around the country.

When I said people were bitter - I'm sorry.  Bitter isn't the right word.  Angry, fed up, tired, struggling, pissed off - that's better.

The past 4 months has felt, at times, like we've been playing games (especially compared to the real life issues that face most Americans).

I recounted weeks ago of how Senator Clinton was losing 28-14 (now 30-14) as though this was sports.  But now let's turn to board games.  First, I want to point out that this race looks a bit like a Monopoly game. Right now, it's down to Senator Obama and Senator Clinton - everyone else has gone bankrupt.  

Obama owns the majority of the properties, has a ton of money and has houses on most of that property.

Clinton got to Boardwalk (NY/NJ) and Park Place (PA) first so she keeps hoping that he lands on that property to bankrupt him - but he has too much money.  Meanwhile, her other properties are basically the Baltic/Mediterranean and he's wracking up money all over the place - landing on free parking, etc while she has, technically, gone bankrupt but is banking on the 200 dollars she gets from "Passing Go".

Weeks ago, we found out that Hillary had said that this would be over by February 5.  Since Barack Obama has come out ahead in delegates in almost every contest since then, it's hard to imagine why Hillary Clinton still feels the need to be in the race.  Let's be honest - if the roles were switched and Barack Obama had lost 30-14 (contests), had fewer delegates, less votes in the popular vote, less money and she had won all over the country - the DNC and everyone would demand that he step back, for the sake of the party.

Note - I know that some of this has been brought up before, but obviously I don't think it's been dealt with.
In case you missed it:

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Trinity UCC senior minister for 30+ years, said things that were stupid and offensive to some.  To others, especially those who watched the videos of the whole thing, these comments were (1) accurate, (2) sensical and (3) taken out of context.

Sen. Barack Obama, his parishioner and front-runner for the Democratic nomination, denounced the words but not the man.  He gave a speech on race in America entitled, "A More Perfect Union," which talked openly and honestly about race - something not really done before.

Pat Buchanan, who has never been elected to anything and is even on the outs with the Republican leadership, is a commentator for MSNBC and regularly spouts arch-conservative ideas that almost certainly are representative of about 10% of the US population.

Start making calls.
Start emailing friends.
Use Facebook to add information to people's walls, inboxes, etc.
Use Myspace to post bulletins to get attention.

If you want your candidate to win - regardless of who it is - get to work.  Personally, I've started engaging all of my NC folks (I'm from NC and live in IL at the moment).

For me, it's about getting people to engage in the speech about race.  I have a BA in Race and Gender Studies and for the moment - that's the most important thing.  As I've recounted, I told someone last week, who was complaining about Wright, that if Obama had to pick between winning the Presidency and pretending race didn't exist and talking about it, he'd talk about it.

When I was in High School, I competed in the American Legion oratorical contests.  As a relatively good public speaker and writer - I loved it, for the most part.  Each year, you had to write on some passage of the US Constitution and its importance.  Each year, I wrote on the preamble to the Constitution.

I used to know it by heart, could recite it to anyone.  And so, you can imagine my thrill when Senator Obama, in his major speech on race and American politics, entitled the speech, "A More Perfect Union."  We MUST work for the general welfare of all of our citizens, even those that we took 300 years to fully recognize.

We do need this union to perfect itself, we need to deal with the hurt we face and have experienced through this country - because of gender/sex or race.

I have a Bachelor's Degree in Race and Gender studies.  I've met with the Civil Rights Leaders that brought voting rights to millions of people in America, met with men and women who marched on Bloody Sunday and the following March to Selma and talked with the recently passed Johnnie Carr - the civil rights champion that she was.

I've studied the beginning of race - in America, in the 1700s.  To find a way to keep more worker for less money, legislatures along the East Coast began to separate poor whites from poor Africans.

I've written about the 3/5ths clause, one-drop rule AND the 1/4, 1/2, 1/16 blood quantum rules that most American Indians nations grapple with.

I've lived in the projects - both when the projects were almost solely Black and when they became almost solely first-generation Latino.  My grandfather was Chickasaw Indian, my grandmother was White.  After their divorce, my grandfather married a Vietnamese woman.  There are bi/multiracial children dotted throughout my family.

I know race.

I can't imagine what the United States (or any other) Civil War was like.  I can't imagine what it was like growing up in the segregated South and wanting to end segregation.  I can't imagine being so strongly behind one position while everyone else was strongly for another.  All I can do - all I can do - is speak what is happening now.

It started earlier this week with Ferraro.  Her words were painful to the bone - that Barack Obama wouldn't be where he was if he were a white man or a woman of any color.  That's true - if he were a white man, he'd likely have the nomination sown up.  If he were a woman - it's doubtful he'd be here because let's face it - this is the first time a woman has been in this position and she had a pretty strong headstart.  Any other woman would have been left in the dust.

But to say that he was only where he was - that somehow being mixed/Black with a single parent in this country could help you become President.  Well, it gave me a laugh and I'll be honest - it also made me cry.

Turn me 'round, turn me 'round, turn me 'round.

Ain't gonna let nobody turn me 'round, turn me 'round, turn me 'round.

50 years ago, Black people in Mississippi - hell, all people in Mississippi, would have laughed if you said a Black man was running for President.  Those same people would never have believed you if you said he was winning the fight for the Democratic nomination and had a lot of money and power to win the White House.

And worst?  None of those Black folk would have been able to vote for him.  Few (if any) of the Whites would have voted for him.  And now?