There's something about the process of walking up to the table and announcing your name, collecting your ballot then stepping into the little "booth" that feels empowering to me.  Here I am, taking the time to be counted.  Someone, somewhere is taking note of what I think.  I am contributing to the continuation of a process that has made America great.  I love my country!

I love analogies - yesterday Iowa was Christmas Eve and I was wondering if Santa was really going to come.  Well he did, I didn't get everything that I wanted but I'm still happy.  

John Edwards did very well, coming in 2nd in a contest that featured "super star" candidates on a playing field that had bright lights on two players and almost no light for the rest.  (Analogy #2)

Here's an e-mail I received with the title "No Ordinary Candidate"  I'm in NH and have contributed to Democratic candidates on the local, state and national level.  However, I should not turn up on anyones list as a possible doner for a Republican anything!  

Half of my family is from Connecticut.  They are truly unhappy with this so called representative of theirs.

Cross posted on BlueHampshire

I received a solicitation e-mail from the Obama Campaign.  Because I've donated to various campaigns and organizations I expect these mail and e-mail solicitations and either send money or throw out or delete - This is different because I suspect they got my information from either Hodes or Shea-Porter (I donated to both)- I could be wrong about that but ...  Second because with all the money they've collected why in the world are they looking for money for signs in Iowa?  Seems to me that would be a basic that should have been handled months ago. Letter below the fold.

Cross posted on Bluehampshire

Below the fold is the letter to the editor I am sending out to NH papers.  It is so hard to know what activities are useful.  I have blogged and called and knocked on doors and sent money and hosted parties and campaign workers.  Waiting for the primary is like being a kid waiting for Christmas.  I can't wait for it to come, I don't want it to be over.  Unless John Edwards wins of course.

Cross Posted on Bluehampshire
After the Florida debacle I decided that I was going to become an active participant in the political process.  If I was going to complain (and how could I not complain about the Bush administration) then I needed to take action.  Since I live in NH the opportunity to meet and hear all the candidates didn’t even require much of a road trip.   I chose John Edwards and jumped into the political process.  I learned to Blog (mostly on the Edwards web site), I made phone calls, I held signs and I met many other NH residents, who like me, decided that sitting on the sidelines was no longer an option.  It seemed to me that Edwards and Dean attracted the most newcomers while Kerry had the "institutional" support.  There was a lot of enthusiasm, energy and talent working hard to get a Democrat in the White House.

It is both incredible and awful the things we put our Presidential candidates through. I am not, by any measure, a Hillary Clinton supporter but I think that last question was unfair and personifies the greater problem that exists with today’s media environment.

The question was both sexist and trivial.  To her credit she got the maximum mileage with her answer by implying that criticism of her decisiveness is unwarranted.  Good job with a bad question.

If she had said are you kidding me, we are here to display our qualifications for the position of leader of the free world.  There are people on this stage who deserve an extra minute or two to make their case and you are "playing the gender card" and insulting us all with such foolishness.  She would have been accused of being humorless and rigid and who knows what else.  Thank goodness she didn’t choose one – can you imagine the fallout and chatter – no thanks.

Tonight, Saturday October 13th John Edwards held a town hall meeting at Winnisquam High School in Tilton, NH.  This is not particularly unique since Labor Day has come and gone and all the candidates are giving New Hampshire some serious attention.  I decided to go and support my candidate and treat myself to a live event in my part of the state.  I was a little concerned about turnout since the Red Sox were playing and this is a very Republican town.

As many of you know John and Elizabeth Edwards are on a bus tour through New Hampshire.  Fourteen stops in four days or something like that.  I’m located in the Lakes Region, which is in central NH north of Concord.  This area is so traditionally Republican that it has always been difficult to collect enough Democrats to have a decent event.  As an early Edwards supporter and local activists I have been helping to "build" a couple of the Lakes Region stops.  Today Tilton and Wolfeboro, tomorrow Plymouth.   Mostly I have been making phone calls to Democrats and Independents in the nearby communities inviting them to the events and asking them where they are in the decision process.  Nearly everyone I spoke to is still undecided about the election.  I can tell you that during the last election cycle when Carol Shea Porter was running all indicators were that she could not and would not win.  I thought she had a shot based on what I was hearing on the street but suspoected it was just wishful thinking on my part.  It wasn’t, she won.  This feels the same.  The race is wide open and no one has it locked down.  Not in the Lakes Region anyway.  

I am fortunate enough to live in New Hampshire so I think it is my responsibility to attend as many political events as possible.  I will, before this primary cycle is over, hear or meet each of the primary candidates.  I saw Mike Gravel last winter, John Edwards this summer and Hillary Clinton yesterday morning.  I heard and met all of the candidates except Leiberman during the last primary cycle so I am not completely "star struck" by the show that surrounds this process.

My husband had an early morning dentist appointment in Derry and we decided that if he got out early enough we would swing over to the event and hear what she had to say.  It is still amazing to me the difference between a live event and seeing it televised.  I expected to be impressed, this is after all, a professional operation.  I am a John Edwards supporter and Hillary Clinton would be my fifth choice if I had to make that many choices.  However, my heart has been broken by the political process so many times I am learning as much as I can about all the candidates because the alternative to a Democrat is too grim to contemplate.

Here is what I learned.

For forty years or so the Lakes Region of New Hampshire has been visited by thousands of motorcyclists during the week proceeding Fathers Day weekend. We call it bike week.  Last years numbers were estimated at more than 100,000.  That’s a lot of motorcycles for this rural tourist region but it’s good for some parts of the economy and those of us who are not making money leave for the weekend and all is well.

You can imagine my chagrin when I was informed by the John Edwards campaign that Elizabeth was rescheduling a previously canceled visit to Meredith (my town) on Friday morning of bike week.  Hillary Clinton was at a house party in Meredith about a month ago and had more than 80 people attend.  That was pretty amazing.  Meredith was a Republican stronghold that rarely saw Democratic candidates because we couldn’t get more than 15 or 20 of us together at a time.  

Sunday afternoon, Senator Edwards will be speaking at the historic Riverside Church in Harlem. Nearly 40 years ago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. announced his opposition to the war in Vietnam from the same pulpit. King urged Americans to speak out against the war, declaring that "Silence is betrayal."

I wish I could be there today - I wish I had been there to hear Dr. King. The beauty of the current technology is that we can at least be close no matter where we are. I received the following via email and am happy to share via diary.

below the jump.

This afternoon (Sunday) I joined four other middle-aged professional woman for a moveon.org phone party.  We were in NH calling numbers in VA provided by out hostess via the moveon.org system.  I knew one of the other women very well (college roommate), one casually and had never met the other two although we live in a very small town.  Most of us work elsewhere to make the money to make ends meet. We listened to the presentation on the laptop from moveon central, reviewed the paperwork and practiced our script with one another then separated to make the calls on our personal cell phones (weekends free may save democracy for the next generation).

I've been thinking about the people who have put their necks on the line and have said the emperor has no cloths. Richard Clarke,Wilson, Plame and many other whistleblowers.  They are taking huge hits from this administration and because they are, for the most part, Washington insiders they know how bad and unethical this administration is when discrediting a critic.  It takes even more guts when you know you're going to be lied about and ruthlessly attacked.  They fit into the same category as Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen, Rachel Carson - the list goes on and on.  So who is your favorite American hero past and present?

When my family goes to the fair or the city or any other crowded venue we arrange a place to meet if we become separated.

Yesterday when I went to log on KOS (I am a daily lurker) I couldn't get on ..."site not found".  

So tomorrow is the day.  In addition to being the culmination of more than a year of activity on the presidential election I am also running for office for the first time.  The last time I was this involved in an election was 1972.  I was a junior at the Univ. of NH and worked for Pete McClosky in the primary against Nixon.  I was not impressed with the Democrats at that time.  After that primary I was so disenchanted that I moved from politics to local activism until GWB stole the last election.  Now, tomorrow it will be over.  We have made calls, canvassed, showed up at rallies, cooked meals and hosted volunteers.  We created a Democratic committee in town for the first time and have candidates for most every position.  My "totem" is made and we'll be at the polls tomorrow from open to close.  I want this win for John Kerry so badly that my stomach is in knots and my heart is beating in double time.  Having George Bush in the White House is so wrong I find it impossible to believe that the fates will allow it.  

My husband & I who were very active supporters of John Edwards were asked if we would volunteer to drive cars in the Elizabeth Edwards motorcade when she was here Monday night through Tuesday.   Since we'll do anything for Elizabeth we said sure without a second thought.  What follows is a description of our "adventure" and my impressions of the process.  

Sunday Kerry flew into Pease AFB, NH and Monday spoke with Michael J. Fox and others at high school in Hampton, NH.  Stories from the front row.  We are sooooo spoiled in NH! This was going to be a diary about both events but I'm too tired so I'll write about Hampton tomorrow.