We Won!

Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

I actually ventured beyond the confines of my bedroom to watch the returns last night (amazing, isn’t it?). We joined fellow volunteers, staffers, and other Democrats in the renovated Granby Theater in downtown Norfolk to watch the returns last night after we left headquarters. I left early, around 7 p.m., with another from out of town who wanted to go to the bash but not alone, while Corey was finishing up some line work at the polls, so we managed to nab a table in a prime spot before the crowd arrived.

It was a nice set up, but I kept getting aggravated because their feed kept breaking up, and whoever was in charge of their video at the theater would just blast loud music instead. I wanted news, no “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” fifty times, but I digress. We watched the states turn blue, the close margins. I was freaking when Virginia looked as if it was going red, but then we realized that they didn’t have any of the info from the south. Even when it became obvious that McCain couldn’t win, couldn’t make the right Electoral combinations, it still wasn’t enough for me. I wanted Virginia. We had to have Virginia. It had become personal.

Then, right when I was ready to give up and go home from utter exhaustion, they called Virginia right around 11 p.m. The room was mayhem. People were cheering, hugging. Strangers were shaking hands. It was just a microcosm of what was going on all around other rooms just like it in Virginia. The ground work had paid off. The phone calls had paid off. All off it, the numerous headquarters, especially throughout Hampton Roads, the strategies, had worked. It was very close, but it had worked.

And the best part of all was that we were a part of it. More later. Peace.