I slept well, thanks to Ambien. Hope each of the bloggers and friends of Joan get to at least take a little nap.

It's a big difference between this election and 2004 for my husband and me. As I write this I'm also watching TV for information on election information. In 2004, we sat in our home office listening to Air America on the PC.

In both cases there was enthusiasm. On election night in 2004 we thought Surely the voters wouldn't return Bush/Cheney to office for a second term! Especially since people have finally "gotten it" that the 2000 election was stolen in Florida and the Supreme Court made the finally decision....making sure that the votes that would give the presidency to Al Gore were never counted/recounted.

So people were enthusiastic. They made campaign contributions to Kerry, worked on the campaign, spread the word of the necessity to register and to vote on election day. On election day, people stood in long lines, sometimes in bad weather, but they were enthusiastic nonetheless. And then it came down to Ohio and the hijinks there. Plus, let's not forget those Diebold machines!

I hope that later today I hear broadcasters still upbeat, unlike what we heard the night of the 2004 election from those previously-enthusiastic people reporting on Air America.

This election we (like others) donated lots more cash. We (like others) both worked during the primary and then in the general election.

My husband canvassed every weekend. I delivered food and drink to the volunteers. We both registered voters. I spread the word through the computer and they spread the word to their contacts, and wrote letters to the editor. We bought and distributed bumper stickers and buttons on our own. And we talked and talked and talked. But we can't be optimistic today - despite what we're hearing from the folks on TV - because we remember Florida and Ohio.

Glad I got a good night's sleep because I will spend the day worrying -- and, yes, grinding my teeth* -- because I know from experience and recent history that THEY are capable of anything and everything!

*For those tooth grinders, here's a bit of advice. Get a guard. Take the advice of this old gal who is now spending thousands of dollars to get those ground-down choppers fixed so they'll last me until I check out from this life.

...for a while, until we began working with President Barack Obama to fix this country and our beloved Constituion which has been trashed so badly during the past four years.

VIVA PRESIDENT OBAMA!

Of course they should get a puppy. He promised the girls one in front of millions of people and what better time to have one when they'll be living in a house with tons of servants to care for him or her. Remember, he's no dummy. He and Michelle know what a great opportunity that was just afforded them to make the kids happy!

As far as the blanket pardon, you've got to be kidding! Obviously you don't realize how much people want to know the truth -- the WHOLE truth -- behind our eight years of joint suffering. Having said that, however, I think an Obama administration won't pursue investigations or convictions---unfortunately. They won't want to dwell on the past because they see themselves as the future of the USA.

The comments about - and advice to - Michelle Obama was probably the best part of today's column. She IS awesome, isn't she?

Liebermann needs to be left hanging in the wind, with no leadership job at all. He was the constant presence behind McCain during TV appearances and would have been the VP nominee if others within the McCain campaign hadn't stepped in and prevented it.

Let me say it again, if McCain had won Tuesday, JOE LIEBERMANN WOULD HAVE BEEN THE REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENT!

He does not deserve anything but feeling of revulsion from all good Democrats.

...to the victory that Barack Obama achieved last week. Dean was the one who developed the 50-state strategy and his campaign for president was the first to utilize the vast resources of the internet for fundraising. He showed that lots of little people, giving small sums of money, could collectively provide large sums to fund a well-staffed and well-organized campaign, and that's exactly what the Obama campaign did---following the example set by Dean. But Dean's first real success was in winning the battle with Washington insiders (translate that to be the DLC) who believed the money should go only to targetted states (targetted by the DLC, of course) and fought the DNC for control of its funds. Then, despite the dire predictions by those folks, he managed to effect control of the Senate by winning a seat in Montana (where the DLC would never in a million years provided sufficient money) and rejuvenated state parties throughout the country, even those in predominately republican-leaning areas. We saw how well that worked as state after state (or county after county within some states) turned from red to blue on November 4.

Kudos and thanks to Howard Dean for transforming the party into one representing ALL Democrats!

MAVERICK!!!!!!