Voting!

I took my wife to vote today. It was her first time voting, though she's been a citizen for over a decade. She just never believed that her vote mattered before. She saw corruption in the system and thought that one politician was just as untrustworthy as another politician. Then she listened to Hilary Clinton and, later, to Obama. Now she, though she wouldn't admit it out loud, feels hope for the first time. She feels that maybe things can be better.

I think a lot of us are feeling a great deal of hope today. We have a candidate that by all of the old rules of politics should lose. He's african american. His middle name is Hussein. He's been labeled as the most liberal Senator in the United States. He's running against a Republican that was hugely popular with many democrats. He has been hit with non-stop negative campaigning- including all the resources that Fox news can bring to bear.

And, yet, Obama is winning because he's been able to focus Americans on the issues in a way that more experienced candidates like Kerry and Gore couldn't. He's remained steady through all of the distortions of his record.

He gives us hope that Americans will focus on the issues that matter- the economy, Iraq- and not be distracted by the politics that Republicans have too often used to divide us.