Blue State

I can't even tell you how hard I'm blubbing right now. I waited up all night to see my state go blue.

Five days after I started this blog, and one month before the 2004 election, I wrote of Indiana: "It is disheartening to read my favorite writers flippantly referring to the entire middle of this country as if it doesn't matter—a barren cultural wasteland whose only value is a bunch of electoral votes, many of which aren't even worth fighting over. Neither presidential candidate is even running ads here, because we're supposedly so red that either one might as well flush that ad money down the toilet. Well, yes, we're a red state; a majority of us (inexplicably) voted for Bush last time. But we also have a governor and a senator and many other elected officials throughout the state who are Democrats. That isn't solidly red; that's purplish."

I wanted my state to matter. I wanted the people in it to matter. I wanted my vote to matter. I wanted a candidate to come here and exploit all its purply promise.

Indiana is blue for the first time in my entire life.



Thank you, Mr. President.
[Please keep the comments in this thread positive. I just need one thread of unadulterated joy. I am so tired, and so spent, and feel so totally beat to shit after doing this day in and day out for four years. I need one thread. And then I will get back to the business of cynicism. I promise. Just give me one.]