Grant Park Revisited

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Obama Wins!

Those of us who remember the other Grant Park, the Grant Park of 1968 and all the pain of that era look at Grant Park now, at the faces with tears of streaming joy, and we say yes, 40 years in the wilderness has brought us to this time.

Now, let's roll up our sleeves... the hard work begins.
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Full Court Pressler

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Just because you've always voted Republican, doesn't mean you can't vote for change, vote for Obama, this year. Just because you vote for Obama doesn't mean you can't go back to your Republican party and help reform it back into something resembling fiscal and other sanity after this year.

Just ask former South Dakota Senator Larry Pressler, the first Vienam Vet to serve in the Senate. This year, Politico reports, Pressler is voting for Obama...and has contributed $500 to his campaign.

The list keeps getting longer and longer.

And maybe that's as much an anti-McCain, anti-Palin, anti-Republican vote this year as a vote for Obama. Pressler does say that McCain's reaction to the financial crisis sure gave him pause.

But reality is, when Obama talks about these United States of America....it starts in the voting booth...for everyone.
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(crossposted at Firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)

Andy, Opie and The Fonz

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I've been looking at some interesting endorsements for Obama of late. You know the ones. Susan Eisenhower, Colin Powell, CC Goldwater, former Minnesota Governor Arnie Carlson...Republicans all.

But here's the endorsement that really sums up spirit of what all the endorsements mean in one sentimental package.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Hey, it beats Pinochet for McCain....
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Battleground North Dakota

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Right after the Republican convention, the poll numbers leaped for John McCain and Barack Obama shuttered his North Dakota offices to disperse his paid staff into Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Reality has returned.

This morning, the leading newspaper instate, The Forum [Fargo] blasted a nearly full-page feature headlined: Obama Leads in ND.

The polling margin is tight -- Obama-45%, McCain-43%, with 12% Undecided. But within those numbers are some startling--for North Dakota--statistics. Like, 17% of those who self-identify as strong Republicans plan to vote for Obama. 40% of those who self-identify as independents plan to vote for Obama.

Right here in my own neighborhood, traditionally a Republican neighborhood, we've been trending Democratic for a couple of decades. This year, there's more "Sarah!" signs [2] than McCain signs [1].

And Obama signs are popping up on almost every block. A testimony to the candidate and a motivated grassroots operation in-state and elsewhere.

We are all battleground states now.... except for the ones Obama has already locked up.

Vote absentee early if you can...and on Election Day pitch in: GOTV, GOTV, GOTV.

There is a Season

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We're kickin' back for a few days in Prairie Country...fresh posts if any will be intermittent. We're remembering our dear friend Marley, reflecting on the state of our lives and our world. Change is in full flower here in Prairie Country.

Trees that were green just two days ago are flush now with scarlet and gold.

Kind of the state of the world these days. We are green-to-the-gills with sickness over the choppy seas of the last almost eight years. Facing choices between the scarlet of a hotheaded war drum pounder. Or the gold of a champion who's trained and worked and grown into the role of leadership and community organizing that this nation so desperately will need.

I'm goin' with the gold. And leavin' the drumming to the ruffed grouse outside my window this morning.

Sarah Susanka articulates the importance of an away place as splendidly as any I've ever read. Whether it's a room, or a grove, or a city park path, find yourself an away space and pause a bit to contemplate just where we have been. And where we are headed.

Then take a deep breath. And take some time to work for the world as you want it to be.

And I'll see you back here again soon.

Biden Bliss

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The past week havin' you feeling down? Wondering where in all the hoopla over the hockey mom and braggadocio about Pandering On War an ordinary middle class American could find some hope for his or her own family?

If the bliss of sandhill cranes [below] was a nice reprieve, but now you're lookin' for the beef, well take a listen to Biden.

And fire up...we've got work to do.
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Testing the Waters?

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Watching Virginia Governor Tim Kaine ably deflect the media barrage of questions about whether he will be Obama's choice for the veep slot this a.m. While injecting the strong standing Virginia has as the "best managed state in the country."

Whether it's eye-raq, or whether it's once again the economy, stupid....

Obama-Kaine '08 would be A-OK with me.
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UPDATE 7/30/2008 7:04 pm.
Well, maybe not: from C&L this about Kaine.
Stem cell research is a litmus test for me. When you're a cancer survivor family, some things are more important than politics, than party.

Obama in Fargo

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Senator Barack Obama spoke to a group of veterans, military and their families, and the general public in a town hall event in Fargo today. You can view the speech and the Q&A session here. He talked with reporters, too.

Earlier I noted that Conventional Wisdom in the Village shouldn't assume North Dakota is a lock to continue as a red state. Clearly, Obama has found a warm reception in the state both times he's visited, today and back in April for the Dem state convention in Grand Forks, when he spoke to a crowd of 18,000 and nearly that number were turned away.

If I were the McCain campaign, I wouldn't be posturing for joint town hall appearances either...Obama does just as well in the give & take of small groups of a thousand as he does speaking to dome-sized crowds.

UPDATE: Nor should they underestimate the rapid-response of the Obama team, demonstrated by Obama's comments live on CNN even as I update, on the issue of Iraq. Obama reiterating: we must be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in.

UPDATE II: Josh promising video over at Talking Points Memo--we post this link because you know how the BBQ media loves to slice'n'dice video to suit their own narratives.
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Rare Birds

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Winter ended late in up here in tall timber country. Even if you drive from the Dakotas due East, it's still "Up North" and opening weekend of fishing season.

Been a good bit of talk hereabouts that the late April snowstorms that turned 60-degree days into 18-inch snow blankets were tough on the wildlife. Certainly the pines and birches took their share of damage. Broken branches, bent over tree trunks, some split and splintered beyond repair.

But it's spring, and spring can be a great healer.

Already, in just one day we've seen trumpeter swans, and a kingfisher, and evening grosbeaks and rose-breasted grosbeaks, and loons on the lake, with mallards and wood ducks, and scaups, and bluejays, and a downy woodpecker, and purple finches, and purple martins, and... and most are paired up. Romancin', looking for likely nesting spots.

Some are birds just getting established in the area, like the swans, ranging out from the Tamarack Wildlife refuge. And some are old friends we feared had gone away like the buffalo back in the late 1800s. But the evening grosbeaks are back, their brash, bright yellow makin' sunshine on this overcast spring day.

The natural world's got a parallel in the political world this crisp evening. Birds migrating north again...voters migrating back to their Democratic home. Some signing on and registering for the very first time in their lives. Inspired by a rare bird who's callin' hope.

Even the hummingbird is back from South of the border, drawn in by the bright red cap on the sunflower feeder, but lookin' for a little sweet sugar instead. We weren't expecting him so soon, but here he is, and already we've got the syrup simmering on the stovetop.

Spring's back at long last, and we're going to make the most of it, renewing the well, replenishing the feeders, planting the seeds...for the good harvest in the fall.