The State of the Election (and Me)

You may have noticed that I've been concentrating on posting info on candidate- and election-related events. You may also have noticed that I'm still not keeping up with the explosion of events that are happening all over New Mexico as we count down the six days left before the November 4th election. Democrats are swarming to early voting events, polling places, canvasses and phone banks. Our candidates are all making the final push for money and volunteers. Get out the vote is the imperative. GOTV is IT.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are concentrating almost entirely on slinging mud, trying to create doubts about our candidates and attempting to suppress voting in any way they can, no holds barred. Truth, ethics, fairness, facts? Not much of that on the R side of political spectrum as a tsunami of change builds and threatens to swamp Republicans up and down the ticket in almost every state -- even the red ones like Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, Virginia and more.

The Morally Bankrupt GOP
The GOP and its candidates are running scared, rudderless and desperate -- and their last-ditch efforts are taking on the gothic tones of a horror movie, the anti-logic fog of a dadaist work of art (without the irony). Without any appealing policies and few positive, attractive candidates, the Repubs have given up on winning on the issues and plunged into the realm of outrageous smears, illegal tactics, baseless innuendo and outright lies.

The Rove-Limbaugh-wingnut buzzwords are parroted everywhere among their ranks, calling our candidates socialists, Communists, fascists, redistributors in chief, elites, eco-terrorists, extremists, pals of domestic terrorists, scary, outsiders and worse.

The "voter fraud" hounds are on the loose again, digging up fake "evidence," intimidating voters at their homes, using Drudge and Fox to flog their false claims and insulting community activists like ACORN.

They've been busy in battleground states trying to "purge" legitimate voters from the rolls in the tens of thousands and hold up the registrations of tens of thousands of new voters. They've been orchestrating vile robocalls, airing crazy ads, distributing phony election information and sending out viciously dishonest direct mail pieces.

The Good News? IT'S NOT WORKING
This time, it's not working. At last, it's not working. And candidates, activists, organizations, the Party and voters are fighting back. Lawsuits are being filed against the perpetrators, like "voter fraud" pusher Pat Rogers, his hired-hand private investigator and the New Mexico GOP. We're challenging the massive purge projects, and winning in the upper courts. Our candidates are refusing to take the bait, and are staying cool, loose and rational -- continually turning the focus back to the issues, where we're winning on almost every single one with Americans.

The Dems are on the right track. Electing more Repubs would keep us on the wrong track. These are the memes that are predominating among the voting public. Turning the page. Making a new start. Daring to try something new and different. Basing votes on the issues, not the scare tactics. Hoping. Uniting. Working hard to make it real. Winning.

Enough Is Enough
I know I'm not alone when I say I've had enough of the hate mongering, the veiled racism, the vapid insults, the accusations that we're not REAL Americans or patriotic, the nasty lies and the desperate, unethical measures being employed by the GOP and its minions. I find I can't even bring myself to write about it anymore, except generically. To probe and report every instance of the GOP's wrongdoing takes too much energy and brings too little return.

We all know what they're doing, and what they've been doing in every election in the past decade or more. They're just doing it with more vehemence and with even fewer ethical considerations this time around -- if that's possible. Because they know their neo-con, anti-regulation, screw the middle class concoction has been deconstructed, defrocked, thoroughly discredited and rejected. They know they're gonna lose, big time. And they just can't quite believe it. But as Honest Abe once said, you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Voters have wised up, mindful of the awful consequences of the Bush years that are crashing down on America, and the world.

Onward to the Finish Line
So, anyway, I guess I'm gonna stick mostly with helping to publicize the events we can attend, the actions we can take, the info we need to help our GOTV be the best it's ever been. If you want the latest details on the latest outrages, the latest attack ads, the latest "voter fraud" garbage etc., it's easy to find elsewhere in this era of the internet. Thank goodness. As for me, I'll mostly keep plugging along with the tedious calendar items, the event announcements, the press releases and the recaps of gatherings for now.

I've been blogging and we've all been meeting and working and pushing for grassroots activism and progressive Democratic gains since 2004 now -- and we're coming into the home stretch of what could really be our time, our mandate, our widespread victories. The only thing left to say is: vote early, volunteer, donate, don't let up, go to rallies, bring your friends, show up. They could still steal it. They could still pull something that works. We could still lose, so keep the pressure on.

Six days, six days, six days. We have to do whatever we can to elect Barack Obama, Tom Udall, Martin Heinrich, Ben Ray Lujan, Harry Teague, Jason Marks, Rick Lass, Victor Raigoza, Tim Eichenberg, Jeff Steinborn, Mimi Stewart, Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Bill O'Neill, Steve Fischmann and more. (Who am I forgetting?) It's now or never.

PS: Talk about timing. I just received a nasty robocall from the RNC "on behalf of John McCain," warning me how Obama is "dangerously inexperienced" and droning on about his intent to sit down with terrorists and side with all the wrong people. Ha. If they're robocalling the likes of me -- a Democrat since day one -- they must REALLY be panicking.

PSS: I just that people in ARIZONA are getting the same robocall. My, my. McCain's home state.