Post Op - D Day On the Horizon

In approximately 34 hours, polls will close in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont. We'll make our knee-jerk reactions to the good-for-nothing early results. As "1% Reporting" becomes 14, 23, 57 and 100%, trends will form and winners will emerge. Between now and those closing moments, I'll wonder if I've done enough.

When Senator Obama's announced he would run for president, I took a position on the fence that I'd maintain for the next 6 months. I'd seen his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention and was excited by the prospect of khis candidacy. Up until that point, I considered Hillary Clinton the inevitable Democratic candidate and still felt Obama's candidacy was a long shot, albeit an exciting one. Since her successful run at the New York Senate seat in 2000, I cuddled up to the notion of electing the first female POTUS and that that woman would be Hillary Clinton. I watched her closely. Despite conservative opposition, her work on the Budget, Public Works, and Health & Education Committees impressed me. After all, I couldn't, at the time, fault her for her Iraq vote -- I was in support of a preemptive strike -- I took the administration's bait hook, line and sinker. After all, 29 other Democratic senators supported the motion, including John Edwards and Tom Daschle.

In the time since the invasion of Iraq, I've learned a hard lesson learned about taking things at face value, especially when considering monumental national security and foreign relations decisions. When no WMD's were found, no links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda surfaced and subsequent Bush/Cheney/Rove gerrymandering became public, I rested blame on the shoulders of the administration for beating the war drum and not on those that erroneously voted to support it. Senator Clinton's culpability, and that of her like minded colleagues, lay in their present view of those erroneous votes. The democrats in congress were given a five year opportunity to make up for the mistake. Some, like John Edwards, apologized emphatically for their votes. For Senator Clinton that opportunity came and went. She instead chose to claim that she was unaware that her vote was to authorize a preemptive strike against Iraq and has refused to repudiate her support of the war since. Her political triangulation was faceted by two points -- there was no wrongdoing to apologize for and that the American people would be stupid enough to believe her.

Unfortunately for her, there was wrongdoing and the American public wasn't stupid enough to believe it. If there's anything the Bush/Cheney regime has given the American people it's increased subjectivity and heightened skepticism. Believe it or not, Senator Clinton's spin of her Iraq vote wasn't enough for me to write off her candidacy but it was strike one.

As the three major Democratic campaigns barnstormed Iowa in the lead up to the primary season, I popped some corn and made myself comfortable on the fence. "Ooh, John Edwards has an ass-kicking populist message! Aah, I knew Hillary was nice but I never knew she was 'Iowa nice!' Wow, Obama is one optimistic guy!" When the dust settled, the Hope Monger came out on top, the working man's populist in second and the inevitable in third. I love horse races.

It's too bad John Edwards came across as a bullshitter, I liked his message more than that of the other "top tier" candidates. If I had thought he wasn't full of shit, I would have campaigned for him from "Day One." There was of course his voting record and his 20,000 square foot mansion that put a dull layer over his populist shine. Barack Obama was relatively untested and Senator Clinton lied about her Iraq vote. What's a proud voter to do?

John Edwards became less viable after a heavy loss in New Hampshire and a defeat in his home state of South Carolina. The SC race also highlighted the Clinton campaign's use of blatant race-baiting. Strike Two, thanks to Slick Willy. Had Bill lost all political tact? His comments were made in the wake of several off-color (no pun intended) comments by Clinton surrogates and the senator herself. Despite apologies, the damage was done. It's a strange coincidence that the Clinton campaign would later tow the line that "words don't put food on the table" after how damaging words were to her campaign early in the race. Mark Penn should have completed that line with "...but they can help you lose an un-losable nomination." With questions of John Edwards' electability and Clinton race-baiting, I woke up the next day leaning toward Senator Obama.

By this time, I began looking past policy, the crux of my decision-making, likening both senators' policy packages to a pot and a kettle. It was at this time that I started to watch Senator Obama's speeches online and paid close attention to anything new he had to say. He was simply electrifying and I waited for a reason to throw my hat in his ring. On January 16th, Senator Clinton got her third strike. I was listening to NPR and an interview between Robert Siegel and Hillary Clinton. She dodged a question on Social Security Tax caps no less than three times and was defiantly rude to Siegel who sought a simple answer to a policy question. At the end of the interview, I called the Denver Obama volunteer headquarters and scheduled a visit.

After my first 200 calls that night, I went on to being a Precinct Captain and then to managing precincts in my district that didn't have captains. I threw a Pre-Caucus bash, stapling hundreds of fliers about the neighborhood and inviting anyone with a pulse. I called the 700 Democrats in my precinct at least three times and as many Democrats from neighboring precincts as I could. Each time I'd sit down to make 200-300 calls it was out of guilt that maybe I hadn't done enough to ensure an Obama victory. On caucus night, my precinct voted 75-25 for Obama and the district-wide vote was 70% to 30% for Obama. I'd done enough...here.

I look northward to my cowboy brothers in Wyoming. As a caucus state, their 12 delegates should nearly all fall under Obama's column but only if the necessary groundwork was done. The national campaign did it's part by installing four offices statewide and I did my part by making calls from home and slapping on my cowboy boots for weekend trips to Cheyenne. This past weekend, I opted for video games over a trip to Texas or Wyoming. I went to my Family's home in Franktown and left my laptop and the blogosphere in Denver. I ignored the horse race in the crucial weekend leading up to the Texas and Ohio primaries and now I question whether I did enough to ensure an Obama victory. Well, the chips are down and at 8pm tomorrow night, I'll have my answer. In the meantime, I'm going to keep my eyes glued to the blogosphere.