 
After running some errands this morning, I remembered vaguely an email from the Obama compaign about voting early. I opened my laptop, and saw John Kerry was in town, promoting that very thing. I figured I had an hour before my next meeting, and so drove to downtown Milwaukee, ten minutes from my office. Granted, I had to giggle to myself about the fact that we met in Red Arrow park, in front of Starbucks, so there was – quite literally – a crowd of “latte drinking liberals” waiting to vote. And I admit the sign calling all Republicans liars, and the gentleman holding it screaming that that party was responsible for an “inside job” on 9/11, made even me, a die-hard liberal, uncomfortable (oh yeh, THAT’S gonna win over undecideds. Idiot.). Even still, I couldn’t help but get emotional, watching this amazing war hero, who was trampled on for his service in 2004, promote who will likely be America’s first black president, and first great president in some time. I’d been an expat for 8 years, watching from a distance with horror on 9/11 and the wars that followed. And so after just moving back, being in a crowd of individuals that care this much about what happens next, gave me a rush of enthusiastic patriotism and pride I hadn’t anticipated when I woke up this morning. John Kerry is a great man; and neither he nor I can wait until we call Barack Obama our president. (I should mention that Congresswoman Gwen Moore was also present and “firing up” the crowd. She got my vote as well)
A note on voting: I was already registered, so it took me all of 10 mins to vote in City Hall, from start to finish. People who needed to register on the fly took 15 minutes total. Go vote any time between now and election day – the Dems can take Wisconsin again!
