Happy Thanksgiving

As you might imagine, there will be some Thanksgiving-related travel in my almost immediate future. That means more food less blog over the next few days. If something comes up that needs comment, I will be sure to weigh in. But all in all, it will be much quieter than usual here through the weekend.

But before I sign off for the time being, I just want to say I am thankful for the gifts this past year has brought. Once again, if you'd asked me then where I'd be now, I'd have been way off base. It's why the "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" question is such a lousy one. Who knows? Who cares? What you don't plan for can end up being so much more rewarding...and fun.

And with that, have an excellent holiday.

Press Play

HCAN's making news again today. A little retreat press courtesy of TPM:

I'm told that dozens of the heaviest hitters from the health care reform world met for a private retreat in Virginia last week and spent two days girding for a major battle with the insurance industry, hashing out specific messaging, discussing organizing goals and planning a major fundraising drive to blanket the airwaves with ads next year.

And we pop up twice on Politico. First here:

Democrats, meanwhile, are moving forward. Earlier this month, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) released an 89-page proposal detailing his ideas. And Senate Health Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) has organized working groups to examine issues key to universal health care.

There is also active grass-roots organizing and advertising by outside groups such as Health Care for America Now, which has committed $25 million next year to pushing for a public insurance plan and tighter regulation of private insurers.

Then here:

The group Health Care for America Now, which advocates affordable health care for all, achieved its main success in winning support from fiscally conservative Democrats such as Warner during the campaign season, pushing Democratic candidates to back a health care plan that is universal but not
mandatory.

But the biggest fault lines on health care come from the left in this Democratic fight.

Richard Kirsch, the national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now, foresees trouble from a group of 90 more-liberal House Democrats who want a European-style, single-payer health care system that is part of a bill advocated by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.).

“The 90 on the left who have signed on to the single-payer Conyers bill — that’s a very active, single-payer group, and we do need to unite them,” Kirsch said.

Health care advocates such as Kirsch also worry that there’s a cautious mindset among Democrats in Congress who have always feared the label “socialized medicine” and have never really envisioned a muscular majority that could actually take a serious crack at health care reform.

“The real challenge is whether Democratic members and staff — who have spent many years only being able to think small — will be able to understand this election is about change in a real way,” Kirsch said. “Some have talked about a very incremental approach. This is not an incremental moment.”

We were also CMAG's Ad of the Week.

Happy Birthday!

One of the best parts about Thanksgiving is that I usually get to see my brother on or around his birthday. I love you, Dan. xo

Smart

I had coffee with a reporter this morning who asked me why we're positioning to fight the insurance industry seeing as how they appear to be willing to compromise this time around. Jason says it best. From our blog and cross-posted on kos:

As this debate moves forward, keep a close eye on who's making arguments. If it's the insurance or pharmaceutical industry, you can bet their argument helps or protects their bottom line. If it's conservatives, you can bet it helps their political viability. Don't ever assume these groups have the public's interest at heart.

Read the whole thing. Jason never ceases to impress.

Sorry Charlie

Color me shocked they're going through with it.

A little history to put the matrimony into perspective.

For the record, I'd much prefer he were out and proud.

A Battering Rahm

Via HuffPo, an unaired SNL skit that totally should have made the show:

Post Mortem

What an oddly appropriate poem of the week considering yesterday was the first weekday without a new post here in a very long time.

Day two of our retreat was just as intense as the first, but I feel like the whole exercise was effective and energizing, and I'm truly excited to see what we can do in the next 10 months.

We're going to need help to make this happen. We going to need people to believe it can be done. But I have confidence if we do this right, we can win and win big.

Meanwhile, I've got some housecleaning to do and chores to run. I'll check back in if something strikes my fancy. Otherwise, remember to check out John's column here tomorrow. I've been told it'll be therapeutic.

Have a good one.

Go Retreat No Surrender

So in case you hadn't noticed, I've been totally MIA but with good reason.

I've been shuttled to an undisclosed location for a corporate retreat. It's my first ever, and I've been informed I failed to pack appropriately. However, considering as of yesterday I didn't even know I was expected to stay the night, the fact I actually packed a bag at all should be considered progress.

Anyway, the day has been productive and exhausting (which is how I have come to the conclusion it's been productive).

And I can report with confidence we have excellent people committed to winning health care reform in 2009.

Run Like The Wind

My friend was nominated for some bizarre "only in DC" award for the top communicators in town. But even stranger than the pseudo-honor itself was the fact that she lost her category to T. Boone Pickens!

Not his communications guy.

T. Boone Pickens himself.

She's totally putting that on her resume.

And The Winner Is...

CNN reports Obama picked Tom Daschle for HHS. There's no link yet, but I'll update as soon as I can find a good one.



Here we go:

Three sources close to the transition and in a position to know tell CNN that former Sen. Tom Daschle is President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be Secretary of Health and Human Services and the former Senate Majority Leader has indicated he wants the job.

Most significantly, Daschle negotiated that he will also serve as the White House health "czar" — or point person — so that he will report directly to the incoming President. The significance is this guarantees that by wearing two hats Daschle, and not White House staffers, will be writing the health care plan that Obama submits to Congress next year.

AP's got a slightly different take:

WASHINGTON – An official with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team says former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle will oversee Obama's health policy working group.

Daschle had been a close adviser to Obama throughout the Illinois senator's campaign for the White House. Daschle, who represented South Dakota in the Senate, recently wrote a book on his proposals to improve health care and is working with former Senate majority leaders on recommendations to improve the system.

The official revealed plans for Daschle on grounds of anonymity in the absence of any official announcement. The focus of the working groups is to develop proposals and plans for action for the next administration.

Making News

ABC: Obama Pressed on Cabinet, Policy

"You have to seize on these opportunities in history to do something big," said Jacki Schechner, national communications director for Health Care for America Now.

On Tuesday, the health care advocacy group launched a TV advertising campaign prodding the incoming administration and the new Congress to act on health care, even though Obama won't be inaugurated for two months.

"I'd like to think we're on the right track, but it doesn't hurt to poke a little and say, 'Hey, remember, we're here,'" Schechner said. "We can't wait any longer."

Many of the groups -- including those pushing health care expansions -- are asking Obama to deliver on campaign promises that he and his aides say he's intent on keeping.

In case you missed it, here's the ad again:

She's Got A Point

Via Andrew, a compelling explanation of why the mysterious circumstances surrounding Trig Palin's birth are still worth exploring:

The single specific piece of information that we have that has caused the most scrutiny of her birth saga is that she traveled back from Texas to Alaska on April 17th leaking amniotic fluid. Yet, she has never once, as far as I can tell, been asked pointed questions about the very real specifics of this. It would be a bit like someone calling in sick at work because he has cut his arm very badly, yet never showing any physical signs - like blood, or stitches, or going to the doctor, that it ever happened, yet being defensive about having to "prove" it.

Read the whole thing, and then tell me you aren't just the slightest bit suspicious.

Your Title Here

My friend Joe has the quote of the day:

I can forgive John McCain for a lot of his campaign rhetoric. But, I don't think I'll ever forgive him for inflicting Palin on us.

My brother had a brilliant idea last night. Name that book. If you could title Palin's tell all, what would it be?

My Favorite Yet

Pop Goes the Weasel

Is it going to be a pop-up book?

Literary agents are queueing up to sign her to a book deal that could earn her up to $7m.

Palin can't speak. She clearly doesn't read. What makes anyone think she can write?

All Booked Up

Once again, I must offer up apologies for being a lousy blogtender today. I had a doctor's appointment this morning (everything's fine), but that sucked up a good chunk of time, and now I'm still catching up at work.

But I did want to just check in and say hello. I spent much of my weekend catching up on bad TV and reading "Eat Pray Love" which, frankly, seemed a lot cheesier than it's turning out to be. Oprah's endorsements have the exact opposite of their intended effect on me. I generally avoid her book club recommendations like the plague. But I figured enough time had passed that it would be alright to scoop up a copy...just this once.

I haven't finished it yet, but I like it so far. A lot. It's soothing in light of how tumultuous everything's been the past few months, and though I'm just starting to wade into the Love portion of the novel, it's been sufficiently engaging thus far to warrant a hearty thumbs-up recommendation.

Assuming I'm not the only one who hasn't read it, of course. I realize I'm so behind on my reading that my being way out of the loop on this one is entirely possible.

Shaken...and Poured

Oh, I so need the Friday.

Here's a little poem of the week for you. Updated by Bond...James Bond.

And in the interest of reminding you to check out John's column this Sunday, I will say I found it particularly interesting and felt smarter and more well-informed after reading it. (The early peek is the perk of being the self-assigned editor.)

Have a great weekend.

Work Stuff

There are no words to properly explain how busy I have been the past 24 hours or so.

The good news is we had a very successful press call today with 4 new Members of Congress who plan to make health care a top priority in 2009. You can read the full release online here. Here's a teaser:

"As a cancer survivor, I speak about health care with knowledge gleaned from the sharp end of a chemotherapy needle," said Rep.-elect Eric Massa (D-NY). "Organizations like Health Care for America Now are at the forefront of a grassroots movement that is saying, ‘yes, we do own the vote, and yes we can change this country.' The economy we're in will mandate the necessity of taking bold steps, and I am willing to be very aggressive in making health care a part of the solution."

Shhhh. Don't tell anyone...But I kind of like my job.

Speaking of job, how the hell does Richard Quest still have one?

Party Foul

Mike Duncan - the head of the RNC - is on CNN right now trying to explain away a fundraising letter accusing Democrats of trying to "steal the election." He says he wants to make sure no one's got a hand on the scale, especially in Minnesota where the Secretary of State is highly partisan.

Instantly, my mind went to Florida 2000, Katherine Harris, and a Republican I know who bragged about being responsible for tossing out some "questionable" Democratic votes.

Just because you're lying, cheating scum doesn't mean everyone else is. But you are more inclined to suspect the worst if you know you've been able to pull it off before.

Sad News

One of my very best friends lost his best friend today.

Boomer was a precious dog, and Joe loved him very much. He spoiled him rotten and with good reason. They were true companions.

This post is my small way of letting Joe know he's on my mind.

Just One More

I know. I can't stop. But this is a good one. I promise.

Last night, John and I were talking about the way Palin speaks and my frustration with the general media failure in calling her out on her bullsh*t. He suggested that perhaps the reason why reporters have trouble pushing back on Palin is that they have NO CLUE what she's talking about. By the time she finishes answering a question, the interviewer is so thoroughly baffled by what his ears just absorbed but his brain can't translate that he simply surrenders and moves on.

It doesn't excuse the abysmal segments that have been masquerading as news reports lately, but it does offer a creative explanation for the apparent epidemic of missing follow-through.

Seems Daniel Larison has come to a similar conclusion.

Bonus Pun: Speaking of 'missing' and 'epidemics', remember when CNN was being called the "Missing White Girl" network? Now we can call them the "Dissing White Girl" network for all the time they're giving Palin.

I'm on a roll.

MissConduct

I know I promised no Palin, but I just read Chez and had a thought I wanted to share.

Has this ever happened before? After a presidential election, has the losing candidate (or his VP) ever come out and spoken negatively about the President-elect?

I can't remember that ever being the case.

It's immature and classic sore loser in - say - little league. What do you call it when it happens at the highest level of government?

Certainly Not News

From the CNN Political Ticker email I got this morning:

CNN: Palin in Obama's administration?
Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Wednesday she would be honored to help out President-elect Barack Obama in his new administration, even if he did hang around with an "unrepentant domestic terrorist."

Really? And I thought CNN's "What if the electoral map is tied?" stories the day before the election were fairy tale filler fluff.

This is not just implausible. It's delusional. Stop encouraging her.

Addiction and Withdrawal

If the first step is admitting you have a problem, then here goes...

I need help.

It's about Palin.

I know hearing her, watching her, reading about her makes me feel bad, and yet I can't stop. I don't want to pay attention anymore, and yet I can't tear myself away. I know her incoherent rambling and incessant lying - and TV reporters' failure to call her on it - will leave me feeling empty inside, but still...I tune in. I don't know what I think I am going to get. I don't know why I expect this time is going to be different. This time someone will look her in the eye and say, "Huh?"

I've told myself I can quit anytime I want, but I can't. I know because I want to. I really, really do.

Catching her in absurdities used to be marginally gratifying, but now, I get nothing. Not even the initial high. No one cares. It's so demoralizing.

And yet as long as the dealers - the TV people - are still out there trolling for customers, I fear I'll be tempted to try it again, just this once.

The only solution is commiting to quitting cold turkey. Just picking a day and saying, "No more! I'm done!"

Maybe tomorrow.

Department of...

Chris put together a list of the names on the short list for various cabinet positions in the Obama administration. I emailed him to say he missed one.

Here is the corrected version:

STATE: Sen. John Kerry, Richard Holbrooke, Sen. Chuck Hagel, Sam Nunn, Colin Powell

TRANSPORTATION: Steve Heminger

TREASURY: Tim Gethner, Larry Summers, Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Jon Corzine, Robert Rubin

VETERANS AFFAIRS: Max Cleland, Tammy Duckworth, Donna Shalala

AWESOMENESS: Jacki Schechner

EPA: Robert Kennedy Jr., Kathleen McGinty

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: Lael Brainard, Cal Dooley, Thomas (Mac) McLarty, Daniel Tarullo, Michael Wessel

OMB: Daschle

I was neither talented nor motivated enough to amend the flowchart.

Also

Palin lost and has no significant experience worth tapping into.

She's a dipsh*t. I wish people would stop giving her a platform.

Wolf's asking her about current issues. Who cares? She has no knowledge. No expertise. She just babbles incoherently. What can she teach us? Nothing. It's like grilling a third grader* on twelfth grade social studies. She knows nothing.

Wolf: "Again, should we bail out the auto industry?"

Palin: "It's in debate right now. And I am listening to the debate."

*apologies to third graders - most of whom are probably smarter than Palin.

Oh, one more thing: Wolf just teased the next portion of the Palin interview and said she has some advice for the Obamas raising children in the White House. Ok, 1. She's never done it. and 2. I'm positive the Obamas don't need parenting advice from Mrs. "My 17-yr-old unwed daughter is pregnant, and I'm thrusting her into the spotlight anyway to satisfy my own narcissism and self-indulgent political ambition, goshdarnit."

I'm pretty sure Barack and Michelle have got it under control.

To The Max

Ezra does a great job explaining what Baucus released today:

Do not think of this as Max Baucus's health care plan. It isn't. Not yet. As of now, it's a policy paper, not a piece of legislation. It is the beginning of Max Baucus's attempt to create a health care reform process. What Baucus has offered is not the Max Baucus health care plan, but the generic Democratic health care plan. The place from which the policy process among congressional Democrats can start.

The whole post is worth a read if you are confused by what's going on.

Ezra's also the guy who turned me on to policy v. politics in fight for health care reform, and he's got a second post on Baucus and the latter that's good too.

In case you're curious, here's the HCAN statement on Baucus:

Health Care for America Now (HCAN) applauds Senator Baucus for coming up with a comprehensive health care plan that is a blueprint for enacting quality, affordable health care for everyone in 2009 and is generally consistent with our principles – the principles also supported by President-elect Obama and more than 150 members of the 111th Congress who have already signed on to HCAN’s Statement of Common Purpose.

We also welcome Senator Baucus’ support for regulating the private insurance industry and offering Americans the choice of public as well as private insurance.

It Pays To Fight Back

You go, Sam! AP:

POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. - A $40 medical bill might seem small but a West Virginia man says his five-year battle over paying it was a matter of principle. Sam Juniper says his health benefits weren't supposed to change after he retired in 2000 from M&G Polymers.

But he received a $40 bill in 2002 after the company's new provider, Aetna Insurance, refused to cover the cost of some blood work. He challenged that in Mason County court in 2003 and won every decision all the way to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. The appeals court ruled in his favor on Oct. 10.

Lawyer Mark Underwood handled Juniper's case for free and says small bills like this add up over time. Juniper says he is still waiting for his $40 refund check, which he plans to frame and hang on his wall.

Btw, I just got a call from a BBC producer asking about the lobbying efforts on the other side. We spoke for a while, and I turned her on to Insurance Company Rules. If you haven't poked around yet, take a gander.

Gender Gap

Women pay more than men for health insurance in the individual market, and the insurance industry's response...

Let's get everyone into the broken system!

NWLC is doing great work for women. Pay attention to them:

In Health Care News Today

We got stuff happening. Politico:

Health care groups that embraced pro-reform candidates have wasted no time transforming their massive campaign resources into lobbying drives for comprehensive health care reform.

Health Care for America Now, which by the end of the year will have spent $14.5 million since its launch in July, plans to spend $25 million next year to continue a relentless pro-reform advertising drumbeat. The money will also fund more organizers; the progressive coalition currently has 79 people on the ground in 41 states.

Baucus is doing his thing too. NYT:

Without waiting for President-elect Barack Obama, Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Finance Committee, will unveil a detailed blueprint on Wednesday to guarantee health insurance for all Americans by facilitating sales of private insurance, expanding Medicaid and Medicare, and requiring most employers to provide or pay for health benefits.

I'll drill down into more detail once I see the full release, but on first glance, the plan's not bad.

In other news, my boss picked up on this yesterday and asked what I thought:

Keen observers have noticed that the issues pages of the official Obama-Biden transition Web site, change.gov, recently went missing and were replaced by a general statement of priorities.

I suggested maybe they were just revamping the site, but from the write it appears others are more skeptical. Only time will tell. If they were smart, the Obama team would put the issues back up in full. They've been archived already. They're out there.

Debasement

Palin's Tour de Ignorance continues:

Ms. Palin directed most of her media criticism at liberal bloggers, whom she twice called, “those bloggers in their parents’ basement just talkin’ garbage.”

John points us to Jane who nails it. Those trash talkin' basement dwellers include:

Arianna Huffington graduated from Cambridge University with an M.A. in economics. At 21, she became president of the famed debating society, the Cambridge Union. She is a bestselling author who ran for Governor of California.

Markos Moulitsas served in the U.S. Army from 1989 through 1992. He earned two bachelor degrees at Northern Illinois University (1992-1996), where he majored in Philosophy, Journalism, and Political Science. He earned a J.D. at Boston University School of Law.

Duncan Black earned a Ph.D. in economics from Brown University in 1999. He has worked at the London School of Economics, the Université catholique de Louvain, the University of California, Irvine, and Bryn Mawr College...

There are many, many more, including John and Jane themselves. Intelligent, accomplished, well-educated, worldly, well-spoken, curious, and interesting people who collectively speak to millions online everyday.

Seems Sarah knows as much about the Internet as she does about Africa.

Toying with your Health

So here's a health care issue I am not sure I know how to fix.

Any doctor recommended by a friend in DC is tough to see. If you're a new patient, the chances of getting in within a 4 month window seem to be slim to none. If you are a regular patient, it's often tricky to get an appointment earlier than a month out.

What happens if you have something that's not emergency room crisis but also can't wait a month? There are all shades of gray in between. The options are waiting to see if it gets to emergency room crisis level or tie up the emergency room when it's not an emergency? This seems so inefficient.

There has got to be a better way.

Badass

I am so psyched he's our new President:

It Can Happen

Jonathan Cohn on getting health care accomplished. HCAN gets a shout out:

Over the past year, both the Service Employees International Union and Health Care for America Now, a newly formed advocacy group, have been running campaigns that, together, will pour tens of millions of dollars into advertising, education, and grassroots organizing. These groups aren't fighting for just any old form of universal coverage. They're after something similar to what Democrats have in mind.

Wave Bye Bye

She hurts my brain:

“I think the Republican ticket represented too much of the status quo, too much of what had gone on in these last eight years, that Americans were kind of shaking their heads like going, wait a minute, how did we run up a $10 trillion debt in a Republican administration? How have there been blunders with war strategy under a Republican administration?” Palin said.

“If we’re talking change, we want to get far away from what it was that the present administration represented, and that is to a great degree what the Republican Party at the time had been representing. So people desiring change, I think, went as far from the administration that is presently seated as they could. It's amazing that we did as well as we did.”

UPDATE: Oh this is good:

Palin's father, Chuck Heath, said his daughter spent the day Saturday trying to figure out what belongs to the RNC.

"She was just frantically ... trying to sort stuff out," Heath said. "That's the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for.

"Nothing goes right back to normal," he said.

The RNC bought the Palin kids underwear?

Monday Madness

I have been abducted by my day job. You know, the one that pays the bills.

I'll try and post more here later today when things slow to a less ridiculous pace.

Yes I Can (be difficult)

I've got a cough. It's annoying. I'm cranky. Forgive my mood.

The poem of the week (now with 100% more inspiration) is here. John's column is updated every Sunday here.

I'm off to pout and feel sorry for myself. Have a good weekend.

Adorable!

photo courtesy: David Katz/Obama for America

What I'm Reading

Newsweek's "How He Did It"

Know You Don't

Seems Palin should have spent a lot less time shopping and a lot more time studying

Turns out Sarah didn't know much about history, geography, or anything else for that matter. And Andrew brings up a fantastic point. The press had a civic duty to report the facts as they saw them, and they failed to a dangerous degree:

They kept taking Palin seriously as a veep candidate when she didn't come close to even minimal standards for passing a citizenship test. I'm sorry but I think this is a terrible failing, and it is a reason the mainstream media are imploding. They let the rules of the game over-rule their duty to tell the American people the truth as they began to discover it. The truth is that Sarah Palin had no business whatever being on a national ticket. It was an insanely reckless choice.

Listening to a call-in show driving back to DC yesterday, I heard a McCain supporter complain the media paid too much attention to Palin's wardrobe and not enough attention to Obama's associations. He declared this campaign the end of the traditional msm.

I agree mainstream coverage was generally abysmal. I always got better news online. But I disagree - obviously - with the caller's assessment of the media's focus. They should have continued to put pressure on Palin, not for the RNC's expenditures on clothing but for her own incompetence and ignorance.

It would have been an easy beat. A plum assignment. The rest of us saw it clearly. No one would have had to work too hard or dig too deep. Sarah was just as shallow as we suspected.

Garbage Palin

Just as I started to post about this gem found via Sullivan, Olbermann popped up on my teevee with a tease of the same story:

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards.

And then there's this:

Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

Aw. That's cute. She thinks she matters.

But wait, there's more. More Newsweek via John:

At the GOP convention in St. Paul, Palin was completely unfazed by the boys' club fraternity she had just joined. One night, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her. After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. "I'll be just a minute," she said.

I had a roommate who did that once. She greeted my boyfriend at the time wearing nothing but a towel. We agreed she was slutty...and insane.

Call me crazy, but I'm kind of excited to see what else surfaces about Palin as more and more pissed off campaign insiders come clean.

What Now?

Now we make it happen:

This is just the beginning. Nothing has actually changed yet, except for the opportunity for change. We need you to keep up the pressure to make sure that Congress and President Obama take action to make real health care reform happen.

Let Congress and President Obama know that you are ready to stand up for health care. Print out our new sign, take a picture of yourself holding it, and send it to us to add to our website. Together, we can show Washington we were serious when we said we wanted health care.

How We Did

We finished up 5 and 2. I would have preferred a sweep, of course, but Walberg and Kuhl went down so that's something:

Yes We Did

Thank G-d.

Now let's get this country back on track. It's been too long.

Where We Stand

We won the NH Senate seat we wanted. From CNN, here's where we are in the House:

Election Night

I'm here.

There's not much to say that isn't being reported elsewhere online.

I'm tabbing between AMERICAblog and TPM and kos and the CNN race results module I customized with the Congressional races where HCAN advertised. If you're following along at home, that would be FL-08, IL-11, MI-7, MO-9, MN-3, NY-29 and the NH Senate race (which Jeanne Shaheen won while I was writing this post).

My boss is all about Randy Kuhl going down in NY. I'd like to be able to wave buh-bye to Tim Walberg in MI. They just called PA and a good chunk of the Northeast for Obama. This is expected but promising. I'll take it.

Mark Warner's win in VA is excellent news for HCAN. We're hoping he kicks off what turns out to be a run of winnning candidates who have already signed on to our campaign. Remember, an Obama win tonight is just the beginning.

Post Canvass Posting

John and I just finished helping gotv in rural Virginia. It's raining and we're both soaked and drained, but I'm really glad we had the chance to pitch in even just for the afternoon.

Some we spoke with had already voted. Some weren't home. One woman said she wasn't voting. "Not this time," she said. We assumed it was a race thing. That's the only explanation we could come up with for an older white woman - a democrat - just up the street from her polling place opting not to exercise the right. It made me sad.

We're on our way back home. I plan to take a long hot shower and then plop down in front of the teevee with a hot drink, my computer, and all the hope I've got left.

One volunteer we just met put it well. Time to be cautiously nauseous.

Midday Distraction

My Mom forwards the funniest emails:



Thanks, Mom! Happy Voting, Everyone.

Very Early Voting

I got up at 6:30am to go wait in line to vote.



It turned out to be a good decision because once the doors opened, the whole process took 40 minutes start to finish. My polling location has paper ballots and one touch screen machine. The majority of people were choosing paper ballots. You have to connect the broken arrow for the candidate of your choice. I pressed extra hard and drew over it twice for Obama/Biden. It felt really good.

Go vote. Even if the line is long and the process seems like it's going to take forever. It's one day, and it means everything.

Election Day Eve

John and I are currently watching "Unwrapped" on the Food Network which tonight is all about cheese. It's the perfect distraction for two people who both love cheese and are quietly pretending not to be anxious about tomorrow.

But we so are.

The plan is for me to vote here in the morning and then head down to Virginia so John can vote there by the afternoon. If we have free time afterwards, we'll go volunteer until the polls close in Virginia at 7pm. Then it's just time to settle in and wait.

I'll be online - both here and at AMERICAblog if there's something I can contribute to the conversation there in the moment (if they'll have me, of course).

Until then, here's to making history.

Not Cool

CNN just did a segment with David Alan Grier and used it to promote their new Saturday show with D.L. Hughley. Grier did not look amused.

It felt like, "Hey, you like this black comedian? We've got one too!"

I was offended so I know he must have been.