Thank you. Thank all of you. Thank you very much.

[mloutre]

{Editotter's note: according to the Blogger's Handbook, if one has yet to go to sleep, then technically yesterday hasn't become tomorrow yet. So that means that on my home planet it's still November 7 even as we type ... which is why I wrote what I did for the JK blog in the wee small hours this morning. I wanted to repost that message here to DU/JK because as far as I'm concerned everything that I said there applies to all of y'all, too ... in spades.}


--------------


It's 4:30 in the morning on the East Coast and I'm finally finding the time to sit down and catch up on my blogging. It's been a very long day at the end of a very long week at the end of a very long series of months spent fighting very hard to break the neocons' stranglehold on the legislative branch of our government.

My feet are still sore from beating the streets for miles on end today, getting out every single possible vote right down to the time the polls closed. My back still aches from schlepping box after heavy box of campaign literature in and out of the GOTV vans and from lugging coolers and cases of box lunches to the many dozens of volunteers spread out across my neck of the woods.

But my soul is at peace, my heart is full, and my mind is still grinning from ear to metaphorical ear as I sit here reading the political news on the internets and listening to the wee-hours election wrap-ups on MSNBC and NPR.

The blue team may not have won every race we entered, and we didn't quite win some of the races that were near and dear to our hearts. But we won enough of them to make a very real difference in Washington, this year and for many years to come.

These mid-term elections mattered, folks. They mattered a *lot*. Today's votes signaled a major change in the balance of power on the Hill. Today the people made their voices heard loudly and clearly. They told the neocons in Congress that enough is enough, it's time for them to hit the road and give us our country back. They put paid to the career aspirations of dozens of legislators, and put the White House on notice that their shameless games of greed and power have come to an abrupt and ignominious end.

Tonight's election results may indicate a major sea change for the ship of state, but they don't mean our side can sit back and rest on its laurels. Our shared ship's sails may have been reset today, and we may have steered it away from the crashing rocks at the very last minute this time. But the voyage goes on forever, and it's going to take us many years of hard, hard work to get this vessel back on course and sailing proud before the wind again.

That being said, there's still time to catch our breaths and take a well-earned break in which to look around and share our gratitude for all those who've been toiling away alongside of us. There are hundreds of professional politicians and consultants and party operatives involved in so many campaigns, of course, and they deserve full credit for tonight's wins.

But the real kudos should go to the unpaid heroes of the day: to the many Team Blue volunteers spread out all across the country, thousands and thousands of them; to the many liberal and progressive bloggers and online correspondents (a hefty handful of whom are regular posters to this blog, and have been since its early days); to the many millions of average Joes and Janes who listened, who spoke up, and who turned out to cast their votes in these unglamorous but absolutely crucial mid-term elections today.

And special thanks are due to one professional politician in particular, of course, a certain senator from Massachusetts who worked harder than anyone else in Washington to bring new faces to the table this year.

He raised millions of dollars for individual candidates in the House as well as the Senate races; he spent countless hours campaigning for them in person; and he stood up strong and straight and tall while he kept right on speaking truth to power, serving as a lightning rod to draw the surges of current that galvanized so many millions of Democratic voters today.

We all know who that certain senator from Massachusetts is, of course. We all know the extent to which today's shift in the American political landscape is the direct result of his tireless work over the last weeks and months and years. We all know the debt of gratitude that We the People owe him for his lifetime of public service, from the jungles of Vietnam to the swamps of Washington, D.C.

So thank you, Senator John Forbes Kerry. Thank you from the very bottoms of our proud, blue, happy hearts.


and now is when the *real* work begins,
Otter

[Blaukraut]

1. Thank you, Otter

It's good to be a Democrat today, and everybody worked so hard to make this a good day for us; especially Senator Kerry. Kudos to him, his team, and everyone else who made it happen.
As you so rightly said; The real work begins now!

[TayTay]

2. Bravo otter!

What he said and said so well.

I agree.

We saved American Democracy. All of us on Team Blue!