YES WE CAN

Last night, I got to hold my best friend’s hand as we watched the election results come in and victories unfold around us.

For women.
For equality.
For students and sick kids.
For working mothers who deserve equal pay.
For people who believe in a better future for this country.
For a renewed vision for tomorrow.

When my great grandmother came to this country in the early days of the last century, she never would have imagined the scene I saw last night.  In my home state of New Hampshire, women now make up the entire Congressional delegation, and we’ve elected an amazing woman to serve as our second female governor AND made history with the first female Senator from MA.  She, who fought for an end to segregation and was there when Martin Luther King, Jr. shared his dream, would have wept to see the spread of justice in the form of victories for marriage equality.  She would have been stunned into silence at the idea of a black man not just winning the presidency, but doing it twice.  And she, who trained her son who trained his daughter who trained her daughter – me – to stand up for what you believe in would have been right beside me all weekend as I phone banked, canvassed, and waited in the cold for two hours to cast my ballot for amazing candidates.

From the state rep races in Michigan (congrats Dian!) to marriage equality in Maine to NH swinging blue to record-high turnout and people waiting in lines for hours just to do their civic duty, it was a night to remember.

I am so proud of our victories last night – and I’m so excited to see what amazing things we’re going to do in the years ahead.

This is it

Three points to anyone who gets that.

It’s here.  FINALLY.  For better or worse, we’re picking a President today – and more.  In New Hampshire, we might end up with an all-female delegation – two Senators, two Representatives, and a Governor, held by women.  Can you even imagine how cool that would be??

The odds are in the favor of us Democrats, as you can see in this chart (which is definitely the only reason I was able to sleep last night).

But when the ballots are in, how will you know if we’ve truly won?  Check out this amazing guide my coworker forwarded on to the rest of us political nerds (thanks Ezra!).

I, for one, am looking forward to an amazing night.  I spent 2008 exhausting myself on a State Rep race in Michigan, and we brought home a victory only after the thousands of absentee votes were counted.  In the rush of taking care of my awesome candidate, I didn’t get to truly celebrate the historic moment in the Presidential race.  So tonight, I’m looking for a redo.  I’m looking to be able to throw up my arms and cheer at the top of my lungs as they proudly announce that we’ve reelected Barack Obama.

See you on the other side, friends.

PS: GO VOTE!!

1600 Pennsylvania Ave

A woman’s place is in the House…
the Senate, and the Oval Office

aka

Sally goes to Washington 

Outside the West Wing

1600 Pennsylvania Ave – the place where history is made, the building the world is run from, the center of our executive branch, the house of the nation = my weekend entertainment.

Meg, a good friend from our days at Mount Holyoke College, made my day week year life? when she used her supreme power to score tour passes for the West Wing for Matt and me.  On an absurdly hot Saturday in January, I finally got to cross one major thing off my list when I picked up my security pass and strolled through the President’s place of work (and my future office?).

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