by Cody Lyon
     In the end, despite the joy of Obama's landslide, millions of gay people found themselves feeling let down, left behind, it was as this vote was a referendum on all gay people, as if the inclusive mosaic the election seemed to paint along with the supposed more compassionate and progressive tidal wave the election signaled, did not fully include them.  

The Gergen sentiment has been stated by most other election analysts.  Given the ebb and flow of the race, if Obama can carry the Old Dominion he should achieve victory.    

There are two reasons to cast discerning eyes, the results of the 2008 election and the shaping process in the evolution of a transformation era of politics were the old order will be supplanting by elements of change providing the country with the opportunity for a new direction.

Indiana votes from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., but here a caveat must be rendered, as it must with Virginia and other key states.  Already it appears that the deadline might be extended an hour to 7 p.m. and after that, it will be anybody's guess what happens.

There have been such huge and successful registration efforts in both Indiana and Virginia that election officials, even without Republican dirty trick activities, pressures and problems are created.  

One of the most interesting stories in the Los Angeles Times this morning one day prior to Election Day is the interesting pattern of activity emerging in John McCain's home state.

With a hoarse, tired looking McCain striving to defeat the seemingly inevitable force of American political history to achieve one more victory for the Bush-Cheney corporate Republican right in the face of a voter transformation, right in his own backyard of Arizona Democrats are hard at work to win a state that had been earlier ceded to the Arizonan.

The Times story reveals that the Democratic state chairman has developed an imaginative eleventh hour fundraising method to secure contributions for specific purposes related to the amount of the donation.  

One contribution involves ability to deploy individuals to make a specified number of calls; another involves feeding a team of workers tapped in for eight hour shifts; yet another involves purchase of gas to drive voters to the polls.

When progressive political scientist Ruy Teixeira wrote "The Emerging Democratic Majority" it presented trending signs that interested observers should anticipate to determine if the moment was at hand.

Teixeira's prediction for the opening decade of the New Millennium was comparable to what conservative political analyst Kevin Phillips had prophesied in the opposite direction.  It is significant that Phillips in the closing decade of the twentieth century criticized the new wave of right wing Republicanism manifesting under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, issuing a prediction dovetailing with that of Teixeira.

On Teixeira's website The Democratic Strategist the term purple states is employed to refer to the emergent opportunities for Democrats in such states as Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada and others.

The most obvious manifestation that America is in the midst of a transformative election comparable to 1932 and the victory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ushering in his New Deal, is that  Republicans are stymied and shifting messages in an effort to find a winning strategy.

What motivation do they have to change the system by which they've thrived? McCain, Clinton, and Obama must serve the interests of the corrupt corporate class -- or else they would be marginalized.

Here in this crumbling empire once known as the American Republic, here in a nation that, at present, for all practical purposes, only produces Cheetos and killer drones, whose architecture is being winnowed down to thriving rural meth houses and foreclosed upon suburban mchouses, whose corrupt corporate culture has bequeathed upon our suffering planet dying oceans and the hyper-caffeinated tsunami of Red Bull Capitalism -- the essential question confronts us -- how does one retain (not retail) one's humanity amid the catastrophic machinery and inane accoutrement of our age?

Want change?  Don't we all.  Each of the Democratic Presidential candidates has plans for change, with varying ideas on how they'd go about it.  For the most part, the top three candidates use similar rhetoric, with Barack Obama presenting the most inspirational picture, Hillary Clinton suggesting notions based on her extensive experience, and John Edwards detailing the most explicit plans for recovering from the Bush legacy.  

We want change, that's a given.  But if Democrats, Independents & progressives want to win the 2008 presidency and, more importantly, achieve a landslide takeover of Congress, Democrats need a candidate that can beat anyone the GOP comes up.  In addition to being able to win, our candidate needs to be one who won't stir up the vindictive passions of conservatives.  Why?  Because conservatives are in the minority, yet they continually out-vote progressives when they're angry, fearful or spiteful.  Even with the ongoing Iraq quagmire and recent lying, cheating and stealing firmly tied to the Bush Administration and its policies (CIA outing, war profiteering and record oil profits), the Democrats' showing at the polls is dismal.  The left simply doesn't use its majority political clout to ensure the country is run the way we want it to be run.

Next year there is more at stake than just the presidency.  We have a potentially historic opportunity to take back the Senate.  The conservative movement is faltering.  We need to be careful not to reinvigorate it with a bad choice in the Democratic primary.  Remember Barry Goldwater?  The people who voted for his losing presidential bid did so as if it were some kind of badge of honor.  At least two of our current candidates in the Democratic pool could inspire that type of spiteful, negative voting again next fall, which would result in a lost opportunity to elect new Democrats in Congress as well.  If progressives want to enact real change in Congress and take our government back, we need to face up to reality before our wishful thinking sets us up for failure next fall.

Hillary Clinton is the GOP's best Get Out The Vote strategy in 2008.  Obama's a close second.

We can get mad about what elected Republicans have done to our country in the past six years and vote in the Democratic Primary for any candidate who says they'll do things differently.  Or, we could proactively determine how the election is likely to go next year if our candidate is easily portrayed to "Middle America" as the worse thing that could happen to our country.  

Debate Schedule
July 23, 2007 - Charleston, South Carolina (CNN/YouTube)
August 19, 2007 - Des Moines, Iowa
September 26, 2007 - Hanover, New Hampshire
October 30, 2007 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
November 15, 2007 - Las Vegas, Nevada
December 10, 2007 - Los Angeles, California
January 6, 2008 - Johnson County, Iowa
January 15, 2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada
January 31, 2008 - California

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly....

Let's Go....

The "marble ceiling" that has kept women and people of color out of the highest offices of leadership in the land is crumbling, at long last. Much of the 2008 speculation has centered on Sen. Hillary Clinton and wondering if America is ready for a woman to be elected President. But long before 2008, Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi will ascend to third in line of succession to the Presidency. If conservatives are going to use the potential of Speaker Pelosi as a scare tactic to rally their base, then they will have to accept her election as an undeniable statement by "The People's House," that we are ready.

Breaking the marble ceiling may be about more than just women in 2008. Since most marble (in DC at least) is white, this historic moment now has pundits offering an arcane and false choice between America being ready for Madame President or a President of Color? Why not both?

   

Illinois Senator Barack Obama is one reason Democrats will regain the majority this midterm election, his pitch perfect message and American Dream story is one of healing, intelligence, faith and grace at a time of GOP dissembling, war, and vulgarity.<!--break-->

   

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, the GOP bunker buster for marble ceilings, is caught up in some ugly policies right now, but could easily be on a short list as a running mate for a GOP Presidential candidate in 2008, given her diplomatic experience and electoral vote rich home base of California.

Isn't there ANY way that the Democratic Party can talk Al Gore into a 2008 run? He's really our best shot. Or is he just too WOUNDED from the 2000 election fiasco?

[cross-posted on And, yes, I DO take it personally]

guess who the r's would like to see as the 2008 presidential candidate...?

   President Bush said Friday that Sen. Hillary Clinton, a potential candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is "formidable," but he declined to speculate on which Republicans might run for the White House in 2008.