fired up and ready to vote!

It's over! Well, for me, that is. I voted this morning. The lines were long but the wait was worth it. And I'm sporting my "I voted in Arlington" sticker. I'm displaying it proudly, right next to my Obama button.

Last night, I was watching CNN/MSNBC/etc (all except Faux News of course) and I actually paid attention to the commericals for once. I noticed that all of the McCain ads were negative. ALL OF THEM talked about how Obama was wrong for the country. Of course, none of them mentioned just what exactly it is about McCain that would make him right for this country. In fact, if I wasn't a political junkie, I wouldn't know anything about McCain's platform if all I did was watch his ads all day. However, I would know that if I didn't vote for McCain, an Obama presidency would bring about wars and increased terrorism and a depression and maybe even a Muslim state. McCain's message seems to be, VOTE FOR MCCAIN IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!

Oh those politics of fear!

On the other hand, Obama's ads didn't attack McCain's religious views (or the fact that he's not really loyal to a particular church despite the support of evangelicals) or his experience (or that of his laughable running mate), or his dubious relationships. Obama never addressed how Al Qaeda endorsed McCain, knowing that he will continue the war in Iraq which is good for their terrorist-in-training recruitment (Obama may be above such attacks, but I am not). Instead, his ads were about hope and change and pointing out that McCain voted with Bush over 90% of the time.

Instead of nasty, slanderous robocalls, last night I received not one nor two but THREE calls from Obama campaign volunteers reminding me to vote and asking me if I needed a ride.

When I stood in line for over an hour and a half this morning, I was offered several magazines to read by Obama supporters in order to help me pass the time. I refused them because I was going to stand in line no matter what. Nothing was going to stop me from voting today.

After determining that I was going to do a paper ballot (because I didn't trust those fancy electronic machines), I filled in the bubble for Obama. I made my choices for the rest of my ballot and then went back to the president/VP line. I looked up to see that Jesse was done with voting and had walked away from the electronic machine (he's nowhere near as paranoid as I am). Our eyes met and I felt a lump in my throat. Both of us are now a part of history.

I had never been more confident in my vote.

And with so much at stake, I filled in the little bubble for Obama again, just in case it wasn't dark enough.