I'm frankly a little surprised that it's happening this soon. Which tells me that things will only get "worse, worser and worst" with Republicans aiming all they have -- and everything they can exaggerate or lie about -- at Obama at every turn.

Which also prompts me say to everyone reading this that you'd better get off your duffs and work harder than you have for any candidate in your lifetime if the Democrats are to pull this off.

Someone doesn't get through this ugly process called campaigning in today's world by just making speeches and writing books.

And lest I draw the ire of the posters on this site, let this old hag remind you that if anyone has been thoroughly vetted it's Hillary Clinton. The repubs can't find out much more to throw at her. Obama, however, is a horse of a different color (oops, hope no one takes that as a racist comment).

What do you say, folks? Are you getting out your checkbook now to send in a contribution? Going on the Obama website to sign up to make phone calls, walk the precincts, help with the mailings, staff the campaign offices, etc., etc., etc.????????

Oh, and also lobbying the powers that be in the party to make sure that if we have a very close race, this candidate has enough staying power to fight to the very end, not matter how long it takes, no matter how it affects his future political life, no matter what the actual cost in time and money? We CANNOT have another Florida or Ohio? It now or never!!!

....that this Democrat who lived in Illinois' state capitol at that time was very proud of that whole group of bills that were introduced by Governor George Ryan and the leadership of both chambers (Democrat and Republican). Unfortunately, that republican governor is now in prison himself and, being the staunch partisan that he is, it's highly unlikely he will offer to help Obama clear the air about his work on that bill--or that Obama will accept his help.

...because it has been said that the majority of those posting here don't remember Willie Horton because they were only about 7 years old when that happened.

Ah! Busted!! So you're the source of those ugly "old hag" postings. Betcha you're wrong. (Even my kids weren't 7 years old when those ads ran.)

What say, folks? Do you want to own up to your (approximately, of course) age range just to show these youngsters that we old farts and old hags are just as up on technology as they seem to think they are?

More important, those Willie Horton-type ads aren't aimed at Democrats. (See, with age comes experience, too.) They're aimed at Republicans and those who fear everyone and everything and are looking for an excuse to vote against Senator Obama.

I, too, was there during the second wave of feminism and I don't know women who condemned motherhood. (Nor did I know any who burned their bras!) In fact, all the women I worked with in those days were mothers. Some worked full time. Most didn't. We weren't the ones writing the books and magazine articles. We were the ones in the trenches working for equality for our daughters and grand daughters. Many of us spent part of the day at the statehouse lobbying for ERA or planning strategy, and then we went home to run our households.

Let me share just two stories about how we balanced things.

One morning the phone rang just as I was sending the kids off to school. I picked up the phone and said "You'll have to wait a minute. I'm just sending my kids out the door...." When they were safely on the way to the corner to catch the school bus, I went back to the phone only to find out the caller was my Member of Congress calling about an issue I was working on. I tried to apologize for my abrupt comments but he was the one who wound up apologizing to me for calling so early.

The second story involved my husband. He notice a note stuck to the wall next to the kitchen phone. He said "You must have had a bad day at the statehouse today, huh?" I said "No, it was a very good day. What are you talking about?" He pointed to the note and said "It says Send FU notes to..." and included a list of member of the General Assembly. I laughed and said "That means 'Follow up" and those letters are going to be 'thank you' ones."

That's what the second wave of feminism was all about. The women and girls - and oftentimes men, too - in the trenches around the country working for equality.

So let's stop spreading the myths that cropped up in those days. The man haters were few and far between. Those who neglected their children were even fewer and far between.

Oh, and by the way, Phyllis Schlafly had 5 or 6 kids--including at least one daughter. But she also had a very rich husband, and a maid who took care of the home and the kids while she travelled across the country working for right-wing, writing books and articles and making speeches, and telling women that they should cherish their roles as housewives and mothers and shound never strive for equality.

Oh, and not all of us came from traditional parenting modes. In my case, I was the classic latchkey kid. Mom worked nights. Dad worked days. I spent a lot of time alone. But neither neglected me and both worked hard to provide for me -- and my siblings before me.

And I'm pleased to say that my daughters are part of the THIRD wave of feminism because we raised them right.