No way, no how, NO McCAIN!!!!

I think this post being blue is fitting after the AMAZING speech Barack gave last night! If he didn't convince those Independent voters that he should be the next President of the U.S., than nothing will! He was eloquent, funny, and really, really burned McSame! That was what I was wanting to see this past week!

My convention highlights: Michelle will make a perfect First Lady, intelligent, eloquent, funny, and well dressed! The "Uncle Teddy" Kennedy tribute video and speech brought tears to my eyes, as did Beau Biden (plus, he's pretty easy on the eyes :). Schweitzer from Montana cracked me up! Why have I never heard of this guy before? Who cared about Mark Warner when compared to him (although, I must say that Warner's speech was really, really good, just not that energetic)! Hillary did GREAT! Bill and Al were fantastic. As a whole, it was a great convention!

Now, to bitch a little (o.k. a lot)...McSame's choice of Sarah Palin is total pandering and I almost feel bad for Palin. She was chosen to "steal" the disgruntled Hillary votes. The fact that she has five children, one with a disability, is pretty, missing a penis and is a "Washington Outsider/Maverick" is icing on the cake. McSame is pretty damn scared at this point to try and get my vote by choosing a female VP. Let's keep him that way and stay Fired Up and Ready to Go until November!!!

Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day

It is yucky and rainy right now. With the wisdom that comes with 25 years (hey, don't laugh, that is a whole third of my life if I die around 75, a fourth if I kick the bucket at 100), I have decided that rainy days are perceived differently by two groups of people. Those that find the rain soothing, comforting and an opportunity to cuddle up with a big cup of coffee and a good book. While the other group perceives rainy days as being a nuisance, a drain on energy and ruining plans for what would have been a good day. Needless to say, I fall into the latter group. At least for today that is. Tack on the fact that I have a cold and I'm sure you can guess that I am Ms. Sunshine today. O well, things could definitely be worse!

On the campaign home-front, things are going really well! My first phone-banking operation pulled in a whopping two volunteers! I'm calling that a coup! I have a fundraiser tonight that should be fun, a neighborhood canvass on Saturday (which I always love) and a big B-B-Q on Sunday. I am getting excited about next week's DNC Convention! Things should start picking up after that, more volunteers, more involvement, and more excitement! And, once McCain and the Republicans (ugh, I threw up a little in my mouth) have their convention, that should rally the base a lot. Plus, I have at least one meeting with a group at UH to recruit volunteers! Yea Me!! Rain, what rain!

Sheila Jackson Lee and Me

Ok, so I can't believe I forgot to tell y'all about this. So while I was in D.C. on Capital Hill, I met and rode up an elevator with Rep. Honda (yes, like the car) from California to see a portion of a House sessiom when in stepped Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.

Let me break to give a little background, for us weird political folks, seeing Representatives/political pundits/wonks etc. is like seeing Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie (although , that would also be freakin' cool!) on the street.

Back to the story, so I'm standing behind her, too intimidated to ask for a picture of the two of us (for us hard-core Barack supporters, let's forget about the whole primary situation...water, bridge, you know? She has done some good things for the people of Harris County) and she steps out with Rep. Honda and I'm like "damn, I should have said something". So last Saturday, who do I see at the Grand Opening of the Harris County Coordinated Campaign? If you said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, you get a gold star sticker! So given my second opportunity to meet her, what does Kelli do?

If you answered, "surely Kelli wasn't so stupid to pass up another opportunity to meet Rep. Jackson-Lee", you would be wrong. I didn't get up fast enough to flag her down as she was leaving the premises! Yea, that's all I have to say today, I'm getting bummed all over again.

O, yea, (as I keep editing this post) :) speaking of grand-standers, during the same session, I saw Rep. Charlie Rangel give a speech on why he should not be censured in the House...it was really funny!

No, I haven't croaked yet!

I am soooo sorry that I left y'all hanging for so long! Been a little crazy getting acclimated to the campaign trail. So anyway, I've been doing pretty darn good. I had a couple of mini-meltdowns my first week, but now that, that is over, I'm doing good in campaign mode, getting into the so called "groove".

I have been hopping from one house party to a fundraiser to a local Democrats club to another house party or event. Kinda crazy but kinda fun :) Additionally, I have gone from "the Annie's List Intern girl" to (drum roll please), Assistant Field Director! However, I secretly call myself the "Deputy Field Director" (yes, I know it is the same thing but "Deputy" sounds a little more important!).

So exactly what does an Assistant (Deputy) Field Director do, you might ask. Well, I organize the blockwalks, phonebanking, and volunteer recruitment. And let me tell you, organizing block walks and cutting turf is a (insert expletive of choice here, no, make it five). Not that much fun, because TX is one of the only states that doesn't have an "easy" button, aka the "cut turf" button on VAN! Aggggh!!! Ok, I need to keep breathing before I have another VAN related meltdown.

Speaking about related meltdowns, Houston traffic. Need I say more? Yes, I will. For those of you brave individuals knowledgeable about the Houston area (and the traffic), a couple of nights ago, I had a fundraiser that I needed to get to on Waugh St., I ended up driving to Alief. Does someone need a GPS system? I think so!

Well, I think that brings you all up to speed on what I have been doing these past few (more like 10) days.

First Day

So, yesterday was my first day on the campaign. I think the first day and week are always the hardest. Your not really sure where you fit in, or what you should be doing. It's a really chill atmosphere and everyone seems nice (so far). :) I had dinner with the candidate and staff which was nice. We have an event tonight that we are setting up today, so I'm off and will tell you more about it later.

On to the Campaign Trail!

Say hello to the newest staffer for Rep. Ellen Cohen from District 134 in Houston, TX! I leave today for the campaign and am super stoked (and a little nervous). Just to fill you all in, her district covers some of the most affluent neighborhoods in all of TX (i.e. Bellaire-27th wealthiest location in TX, West University Place, 7th wealthiest place in TX, and River Oaks, yea, the houses sell there for 15 million plus). I'm not sure exactly what I will be doing there, but will let you know after my first day, Monday, 8:30am (I can do 8:30).

Campaign School was pretty intense, but is (thank God) now over. Nah, I'm making it sound horrible, it wasn't. Just "new". American University's campus was beautiful and the weather was surprisingly reminiscent of TX weather. I have about five blisters in varying locations on my feet and am about three shades paler than before I left. But all in all, I'm a-ok. After being holed up for the past nine days, I need to catch up on what has been going on in the world.

I think it is official, I've completely lost it. Last night, I had my first "official" breakdown of the week. After a terribly grueling/gruesome assignment (along with a super late night, or should I say morning) I just broke down into a fit of maniacal laughter along with tears of frustration/stress/and disbelief.

You can't cry and laugh at the same time you may say. Well, I'm sitting here telling you, Yes (you/I/we) Can! In fact, I recovered from another "fit" earlier this evening...two, in fact (and one time in front of my boss, for Pete's sake). However, always trying to find that silver lining, it did make me feel better. I was able to cry and howl, and then got back to work. It's what we psych majors call "catharsis" (yea, big word).

Another silver/gold/Platinum liner? The grueling nights of campaign simulation and planning is over today at 1pm. We present our campaign plan to the three judges and then Hello Jose Cuervo! Additionally, I find out which campaign I am "officially" going to. Now, I'm off to bed, a couple of hours of sleep should help lighten up the dark circles under my eyes.

O yea, I can't believe I almost forgot, I saw Karl Rove in the car next to me today. He waved to me as I took his picture and laughed at the thought of his likely demise and future jail sentence.