It's a new day

One week ago today was the greatest election day of my life. I partied all night and I've been partying ever since.

I started working for Barack Obama almost a year ago. My two sons were among those who convinced me to consider him as a serious candidate. The more I read about him (and by him, especially his first book) the more I realized that this was the leader our country so desperately needed. About 6 months ago I decided to concentrate my efforts where I thought they'd do the most good: I became a contributing writer for Huffington Post, reporting on the election and particularly on how the presidential campaign was going here in John McCain's state (I refuse to say 'home state;' he's not from here, and with upward of 10 houses I honestly don't know what state the guy calls home). Writing for Huff Post is one of the most intense, interesting and crazy things I've ever done, mostly because of the outrageously fast news cycle of this campaign. News changed hourly, and as a political blogger the onus falls on you to keep up or get swept aside. I kept up the best I could. First I wrote weekly, then twice a week, then once a day, and finally in the last weeks of the campaign I was submitting stories twice a day, all the while taking photos to accompany my blog posts. I interviewed professional pollsters, local politicians (including Arizona's governor, which was very cool I've got to admit), Obama for America staff, countless volunteers and Obama supporters, and even a few Republicans. I was gratified, humbled, and most of all shocked at the response: my blog received thousands of comments and hundreds of thousands of hits, my posts were picked up by websites of newspapers all over the world. It was astonishing. I wish I could send a thank you to everyone who agreed to be interviewed, and everyone who read my pieces, left a comment, or forwarded it to friends and family. It meant the world to me.

Now I'm taking a much needed break. Being a lifelong political junkie I'm still following the news but at a much more relaxed pace. I muse over a glass of wine every evening, quite happily wondering who Obama will pick for his cabinet, what his first decisions will be, and what kind of puppy those little girls will be getting. And for the first time in a long, long time I'm thinking about our country's future and I'm smiling. I'm thinking of my sons and their future, and I'm feeling optimistic. I'm feeling just what I felt nearly a year ago: Barack Obama is the leader our country so desperately needs in this very desperate time.

Hurray for Barack Obama! Hurray for us!