Victory!! 154 Days to Go!

"Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another - a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States."

With these words, the most stressful 5 months in Democratic Party history came to an end. Granted, Senator Clinton refused to gracefully concede (for the time being), but for all intents and purposes, this race is decisively over. It was a year ago that the first primary debates were held; 5 months since the Iowa caucuses demonstrated that the Obama movement was real, and brought him the massive African-American support that has driven him to that stage in St. Paul; 4 months since Super Tuesday changed the dynamic of the race, and shot Senator Obama into the status of "front-runner": one he has never relinquished.

So tonight, history is made. Tomorrow morning, the major news outlets will pause and reflect on this historic moment. The New York Times will declare "End of Epic Battle With Clinton," and the TV pundits will remark how amazing it is that we now have an African-American presidential nominee. But in a few days, the politicizing will commence once more.

Here, with our newly-christened E-Day countdown, we're gonna beat them to the punch. Politics are my game, and we're gonna be playing all sorts of games over the next 5 months: hypothesizing, predicting, guessing, imagining, and so forth. I'll analyze every possible scenario, endlessly fret over polls (state-by-state and general election), and most likely second-guess myself constantly.

I will not pretend that this is an unbiased blog. I unabashedly support Senator Obama - volunteered for him in the PA primary, voted for him in the NY primary, and will work my heart out this fall to help win him Delaware County, PA. And I cannot wait for the American people to realize that John W. McCain is not ready to be our Commander-in-Chief.

I've chosen to write about this election for a few reasons. It is the first year in which I am old enough to vote, old enough to have my voice heard in a tangible way beyond cyberspace. It is a momentous year, a pivotal moment in American history where we can choose to continue down the path laid out by eight years of George W. Bush - a path of diplomatic isolation, decreased security (both economic and military), and disrespect for the rule of law - or we can choose a different path - a path where America fulfills its destiny as a beacon of justice and freedom for the world, its destiny as the leader of the fight against poverty, the fight against global warming, the fight against genocide, the fight against corruption. That is what I believe Senator Obama offers us: a brighter future, a departure from the politics of the status quo, and a chance to inspire real change - not just political change, but change in the hearts and minds of the American people. True change, the "change we can believe in," is not about laws and memos; it's about inspiring the American people to fulfill their own responsibilities, and ask "what they can do for their country." This government will be held accountable only when we, as citizens, stand up and demand it.

Over the next week, I'll be running through several big topics: the initial matchup of Obama v. McCain; the option of Hillary as VP; the Electoral College outlook; and more. In the coming weeks and months, I hope you'll bear with me as I dig deeper into this election year. We'll cover the key Senate races, the outlook on what the challenges of 2009 will look like, things that could go wrong for both campaigns, X-factors that could change the entire equation, possible 3rd party runs and what they mean, and perhaps other issues that I feel like talking about. While I care about government accountability, this blog is accountable to absolutely no one - I have no reader quotas that I need to fulfill, no ads to pay for, and so I will write about exactly what I want to write about.

Tonight, we should all get a good night's rest. We've all earned one night of rest after such a long battle. However, the real battle is about to begin. 154 days to go before America decides its future.