I don't believe Obama is the Second Coming (or the First Coming, for my Jewish friends out there), but his methods are certainly different than what we have seen in a while.

Reagan utilized a somewhat similar message, but even before he became President, it was clear that his style of governance was very different than what Obama has done at the local and federal levels. Obama is a different creature than anything we've seen, a Meyers-Briggs Idealist with powerful leadership abilities and a male leader who embraces the feminine characteristics of unity, open-mindedness, and compromise. As Ellen Goodman hinted at in the Boston Globe this week, Obama may be our first female president, more so than Hillary.

I suspect that Obama, upon taking office, will encounter as much, if not more resistance from the entrenched left as the right, as each side subscribes to their own form of rabid fundamentalism (queue Ralph Nader in the wings!). I cannot imagine he will make major inroads with many of these people in Congress, as they depend on their hardened and inflexible ideologies to keep donor dollars coming in from an activist base.

But what is truly astounding are the throngs in the middle - slightly to the left, and slightly to the right - who have felt empowered to act, and register, and vote this year. I have seen so many people who were formerly disconnected showing up at caucuses and participating that it has all but literally blown my mind.

We see vast throngs of those who gave up on politics giving them a second chance and participating in our great democracy again. Even more incredible is the level of interest from the Millennials, a giant of a demographic only just now able to participate in the process.

I am empowered this year, and am agitating for change in my community and my church following the realization that I MATTER. And it's having an effect. Others, too long cowed by activists, are doing the same.

My point? I suspect that many local contests in the next several years will have similar overtones to the national race. This year, no matter who wins the Presidency, is a harbinger of things to come. The old-school radicals will be a hard army to defeat, but a vast activated middle, united by renewed energy and disgust, can eventually defeat them. All we have to do is organize and vote. It's not really that hard.

...about these spineless anonymous posters? They've gone from snarky to grade 'A' jerks. This is a legitimate story, and one dealing with issues a lot larger than one election. One would think that most reasonable people would be concerned about voting irregularities, or is democracy something else to be tossed aside during petulant little rants?

People still believe in Hell? Goodness - I thought the Universalists got us out of that theological thicket almost 200 years ago.

Proof that Hillary supporters are stuck in the past, no?

...but she's going to have to crush Obama in Texas and Ohio if she ever expects to pull out the nomination. And having Patti Solis Doyle depart because of "Mommy issues" doesn't exactly help show what feminists her supporters are. (In all fairness, the reasoning Doyle provided, in my opinion, is disingenuous nonsense. I'd prefer honesty over melodramatic treacle any day.)

"The Resiliency of Sen. Obama's Coalition Will Be Tested; Hillary's Coalition Is Stronger. The grind of a general election will erase the freshness and excitement of the primary season and the success that Sen. Obama has earned in states he has little chance of winning in November will erode. It may even crumble."

This is PRECISELY what disgusts me about the current Party Apparatus. Do they honestly think that having record turnout of people at primaries and caucuses, waiting in the snow (like we did in Maine), dealing with massive levels of disorganization, and all the while, voting decisively for an insurgent candidate, DOESN'T MEAN A GODDAMNED THING???

I have never been a registered Democrat up until yesterday. I have never participated in anything political. Why? Both parties are corrupt, bloated, tired, and frankly, becoming a danger to the integrity of this country. But Ron Paul has no chance of getting anywhere in the GOP, and frankly, I would still like some government services at the end of the day.

Let's put aside the specific candidates for a minute - I am part of the party to crash it, pure and simple. I am an insurgent. I am sending a message to my state and my country that I have had it. It didn't have to be Hillary and Barack. It could have been any Establishment Candidate versus Someone New (provided that the New One had half a brain and a cohesive campaign).

So yes - I want to take this piece of crap we call the Democratic Party down, surrogate by surrogate, apparatchik by apparatchik, until what is left actually has some purpose and meaning. And if my local Dems at the state level think they are getting off easy, I plan to do the same thing. And I have a lot of friends this year.