A few thoughts on where we have been over the past few years. In a way, I guess this a love letter to all the Deaniacs who never gave up faith in the good fight.
Looking at the Lamont victory tonight, I keep thinking about how far we all have come. One of the most powerful things I heard at YearlyKos was someone (please identify yourself) saying that Howard Dean told them "You have the power" and they believed him. And so they started organizing. They started the good fight. I count myself as a person originally activated by Dean.
I went to New Hampshire to knock on doors that cold winter what seems like ages ago. I watched him surge. I watched him crucified by the media. I watched my fourth favorite candidate take the nomination and I watched him lose. All the while donating money. Organizing my Pirates into what would be some of their very first trips to the polling stations. Watching with antcipation and feeling the sting of disapointment.
In some ways, I do not know how to react to a victory in the politcal arena. We have consoled ourselves with so many "moral victories" that it feels strange tasting a real win. A big win. Herseth was a win, but this is different. This is a shot fired not across the bow of the Democratic party, but right through the officer's quarters. This is the Progressive movement standing up and saying - with apologies to my gay brothers and sisters - "We are here! We vote! Get over it!"
What do we do now that we have won? We keep fighting. All these years, through all these disappointments we have encouraged each other. We have picked each other up when we were out of steam. We have had fights over primaries and pie. We have lost members. But we have kept at it. We kept fighting. When they laughed or when they called us crazy we kept at it. We donated money we couldn't really afford and we knocked on the doors of strangers. We took disappointment in stride again and again until we won. We did it the American way - with hard work.
So to kos I say "thank you". You are the one that brought me into this crazy thing called politics. And to Hoho, I say thank you. To paraphrase another Kossak, you told me I had the power, and I believed you. To all the people who tangled over Dean vs. Clark and Clark vs. Edwards and Kerry vs. everyone, I thank you. You forced me to defend my positions and made my positions stronger in the process. And thank you to Ned for running a flawless race. For showing everyone exactly how it should be done. For winning. Winning. Good God Almighty, we won.
I think I'll have a drink now.