Barack Obama and his Lucky Charms

How cool is it that I represent the company, Metal Morphosis, that manufactues not only one of the charms that he has but he says at the end of the video the "lucky" Braille charm is his favorite!

Victory Party in Vegas

There are so many reasons that I am overjoyed Barack Obama will be our next President. Besides the obvious points...of why I believe he will be a great President it’s very exciting to see millions of people volunteering and voting in a country that has often got in its own way of prosperity because of cynicism and skepticism. Plus, just the inclusionary movement Barack Obama created in itself can bring many positive results. Once people participate in the process they are more likely to care about staying involved in the solution. And, working with and celebrating along side such an incredibly diverse group of people across every ethic and socioeconomic background was a great source of pride for me. Looking forward to brighter days ahead!

November 5th, 2008

Like any life experience, it's almost impossible to articulate a feeling without living it. But, I thought this video really represented how I felt as I traveled, canvassed and interacted with so many other volunteers across the country. I'm amazed and proud and maybe even a bit stunned when I think of the millions of people that volunteered and voted in a country that has often got in its own way of prosperity because of cynicism and skepticism.

Here Comes The Sun - INDIVO
Uploaded by INDIVO

November 4th, 2008

I've been so busy between the Race for the Rescues, the election and trying to fit in my real job in between I haven't added anything to this blog in weeks. And, here I am in Vegas....today is the big day. It's not an over statement to say that most of the country realizes this is an incredibly historic day. I MISS TIM RUSSERT!! I woke up before dawn with more anxiety than excitment and I hope to go to bed tonight knowing without a shadow of a doubt that Barack Obama won the election for President of the United States of America....Glad I'm here to help Nevada go blue but miss my girls and looking forward to going home tomorrow a happy camper.

In McCain's Own Words

Sometimes You Simply Can't Take the High Road

In the last few weeks the McCain campaign has come out with a deluge of not just negative ads but they have straight out lied...not even shading truth but very simply saying - I can't win this election on my own merits so I'll just be a bully to my opponent.

Sometimes you take the high road and sometimes you need to fight back. When I was a child a kid down the street hit me and threw my sweater in the gutter. I ran home crying and Inez, our housekeeper and my other mother told me I needed to go and hit that boy back. When I explained my parents said that I shouldn't do that she said your parents aren't here and I am now go hit that kid back. I did...and he never bothered me again. In life and in politics you gotta know when to fight back...it's time to stand up and fight back!

And They Think Charlie Gibson was Hard on Sarah Palin!

Bill O'Reilly goes on the attack and Barack responds brilliantly! Click on the link above to see the clips from the interview. Now, let's see Bill interview Sarah Palin - never gonna happen....he might not be deferential enough or respectful as the McCain campaign has complained the media has not been with her. Seriously, Charlie Gibson was too hard on her? What do they think that Ahmadinejad and Putin are going to invite her for tea?

Obama Chooses Biden as Running Mate

I'm SO excited!!! I've been a fan of his for years and he was my 1st choice for Barack to pick. How amazing that for the 1st time in my life I am truly and sincerely supporting candidates that I believe in (as much as one can "believe" in a politician.)

Barack Obama & Michele Obama Fist Bump

And what Fox News is calling the terrorist bump

Obama Wins Democratic Nomination: Round-Up Of Reactions

A round-up of the reaction to Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary with comments from Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic (a man that in 2000 was a passionate Bush supporter making his support of Barack that much sweeter)and assorted others perspectives on this momentous night!

Barack in Charge

By Craig Crawford | May 31, 2008 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (514)

Make no mistake about it. The decision rendered today by the Democratic National Committee's rules panel showed that Barack Obama has displaced Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as boss of the party.

The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee gave Obama exactly what he wanted - a firm decision on seating Florida and Michigan delegates. Even though Clinton wins a small net gain in nominating delegates, it is not enough to seriously boost her chances for the nomination.

No decision would have best served Clinton today. Her nomination hopes are dependent on a chaos theory, which would have been best supported by keeping the status of Florida and Michigan in limbo.

Losing what they needed today proves that for the first time in 16 years the Clintons are no longer in charge of the Democratic Party. There is a new boss in town.

Democrats Compromise, Will Seat Florida and Michigan Delegations (CQ Politics)

50,000 People Attend Obama Rally in Portland!

If you haven't heard Barack's stump speach, check it out!

Chris Matthews shreds right wing talker Kevin James

This is a long video, 9 minutes I believe but worth it. I think it's so typical of those on the extreme right or left to take a sound bite and try to exploit it without even knowing what they're talking about. He should know better than to go on Hardball unprepared.

The Empire Strikes Barack

"In My Opinion, Barack Obama Hits a Homerun on Fox News!"

I was so worried when I heard that Barack was going to be interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox. My fear was that no matter what he said they would twist and turn it in a way to harm him. But, I should have had more faith, Barack was better than great he was the smart, quick, articulate, thoughtful, humble, substantive and overall the amazing person that those who support him know him to be! This was an opportunity for the rest of the people that dislike him or are suspicious of his viability could gain some insight.

Even after the 45 minute interview when they had their panel discussion, only Bill Kristal was really against him. The others all had mostly positive comments and to me that is a huge victory! At least from my perspective, I bet there are a lot of people that watched the interview and scratched their head wondering if they possibly mis-judged him and to me creating that question in the mind of a Fox viewer is a total home run!!

To add icing to the cake Reverend Wright was speaking to the NAACP and they carried the speech on Fox (no doubt waiting for him to say something insane) and even Geraldo is saying the Reverend was funny and over all pretty complementary. Go figure? I gotta say, it was a pretty impressive speech in that one could easily see his appeal. Oh uh....who's gonna be the boogie man if it's not Barack or Reverend Wright :-)

NY TImes The Caucus: Edwards Backers Team Up With Obama

Several prominent supporters of the former presidential candidate -- and former senator from North Carolina -- lend their support.

Pennsylvania gives a net +9 delegates to Clinton

We knew Hillary would win in Pennsylvania but we hoped for less than 7%. Her win of55%-45% has put a lot of wind at her back. The media, even MSNBC has been siting all of the reasons he may not be able to "close this deal". Although she only picked up 9 more delegates than he did, two things have changed. The momentum on her campaign just shifted and the media has been pointing out what they view as his flaws. It's going to be a tough 2 weeks for Obama supporters. However, he will win N.Carolina so Indiana has become the next Pennsylvania. It sounds like a similar split of demographics on a smaller scale as Pennsylvania and if he can't win the non-educated, white people, making less than $50,000 (which she seems to own) then it's going to continue to be a rough road. Now, with all of that said....one well publicized story good or bad about either of them can tilt the perception one way or the other.

Canvassing in Philadelphia Day 4

Ohhhhh how I hate to wake up early but the sacrifice for Barack is well worth it!! I met up with my new buddies Josh and Doug this morning and we were joined by another UFCW member Rick. We got an early start to canvassing and along with hitting I believe about 300 homes we still made time to search for the best cheesesteak in Philly. Doug took us to Jim's and it was much better than Pat's!

There were some challenges today but nothing that a few repeated chant's of "yes we can's" to myself couldn't get me past. Doug was thoughtful enough to be sure I got my "butt exercise" in by allowing me the opportunity to work the neighborhood of condo's with an equal number of set's of stairs that I got to go up and down. The timing of this couldn't have been better as it was just about the only time of the day that was quite warm. Thanks Doug! OK...he did bring me a nonfat latte to redeem himself. One nasty lady snapped at me but that got balanced out by a number of supporters that thanked me profusely for helping get the vote out for Barack. The balance sheet was further offset to the positive by definitely getting some on the fence people to the Obama side and that was incredibly fulfilling. The icing on the cake is spending time outside the LA bubble of "hollyweird" which is so refreshing. I just can’t explain how cool it is to work all day with total strangers with seemingly nothing in common other than our passion to get Barack elected, yet by the end of the day find all of these common threads. In driving to and from the areas we were canvassing and short chats in between we talked about religion, family, ethics. TV, movies,music and more. On 1st glance no one (including us) would guess we would find so many common bonds and areas of agreement, but we became fast friends.

Another noteworthy story...I met this guy that lives in Sweden and came here to volunteer via Costa Rica (for vacation) then New Jersey (to visit his family). It’s so amazing to see the reach Obama has not just in the US but all over the world. He was so compelled to help in Pennsylvania that he used it as an excuse to visit his family in New Jersey not the other way around, crazy huh?
Your eyes don't lie, yep, that's Sly between Doug and I

Yes, in the Glushon book of priorities, it's always about the food!


Who can say no to cheese fries?

Philadelphia Day 3

Instead of reporting to the original headquarters I went to the 1st day I worked with two new friends Doug and Josh. They both are organizers for the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers Union)and are here from Baltimore. So, one highlight of the day was learning a lot about unions. My knowledge has been pretty much limited to a news story here and there and Norma Rae. We canvased homes all day with a largely positive response. It's interesting that the demographics we see on the news held true in that the few white women over 50 we came across were for Hillary. I hadn't eaten a thing all day and by 2:00 I was way past cranky, heading directly towards bitchy but was saved by a cheesesteak at Pete's. This is supposedly the best cheesesteak in Philly. It's pretty amazing, a big line of people both tourists and locals and they have signs telling you the 3 steps to order plus you better have your cash ready in hand or risk soup Nazi like hostility from the guys behind the counter. After a quick break to eat we finished canvassing and felt like we had accomplished a lot! The low point was pulling up to a house that had a swastika on the wall of their home....seriously. My 1st thought was as Dorothy said "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore" As offensive as it is I'm posting the pic below because it's still blowing my mind that someone could have that on the outside of their home. Important reminder that although great strides have been made the world is filled with hate. Living in LA we tend to take things for granted.

The low point of the day

Things are looking up!


Philly BaRocks!

My First Day in Philadelphia

My 1st day in Philly was awesome! I spent about 6 hours yesterday in front of a mall in the center of town with the objective of getting people to the Rally that evening. A lot of people were very friendly and supportive. Most non-Obama folks just averted their eyes looking away from me. I only ran into a few nasty people and they were all older white men. A couple just seething with hostility one walking by and under his breath saying “NEVER” and another said “I would never vote for HIM” with such venom, wow pretty crazy. I responded suggesting they come hear Barack speak tonight and then don’t vote for him…at least they’ll know what they are voting against. Then one man got in my face and said “do you realize that you may never see a woman President if you don’t vote for Hillary?” and I said “yes…so what? I don’t vote for people because of their gender, race or religion” He said, “so many women worked so hard to pave the way for me to have the opportunities that my generation has had” my reply to that was “their fight was so that I would have options and choices and I CHOOSE to vote and support Barack!”

Then I went to the Rally at Independence Mall. Pretty moving to think of the history there at the beginning of our country and the history we’re making in our country now. They expected attendance of about 20,000 and when we arrived the lines of people 2 hours before the gate even opened were enormous. The headquarters I was working out of didn’t give me a ticket but using the Glushon resourcefulness my mother had and my nephews have even more of not only did I get in but along with a new friend Michael we scammed our way right up front about 20 yards from the stage. Breaking the rules made it all even more exciting!

They say more than 35,000 people attended, the largest crowd of the campaign so far. Equally as cool was after the rally there were thousands of people (media claims about 5,000) that walked up Market St chanting “OBAMA, OBAMA” and “Yes We Can” etc…the police at 1st attempted to reign people in off the street and to the sidewalk but it didn’t work. I felt like we were in a flashback to 1968…it was absolutely incredible! A massive tidal wave of people, every age, every color all together proudly in unison. I don’t think anything else on this trip will top that.

A side note, I’m laughing so hard…Hillary is on the news giving a speech somewhere today and getting her crowd to chant “yes we will” over and over again….you would think she could come up with something a bit more original!

Anyway…anyone want to join me in Oregon??