Congratulations!

Despite all of my problems with Barack Obama, I, like so many people around the world, am absolutely thrilled that he won and will be our 44th president. I'm also happy that the Democrats expanded their majority in the House and finally knocked off New England's last Republican congressman, Chris Shays, in my home state of Connecticut. And of course it's great that the Democrats have expanded their majority in the Senate as well, and I've still got my fingers crossed that in the face of steep odds, Franken can win in a recount in Minnesota, that Jim Martin can win if in fact a runoff is held in Georgia, as appears likely, and that Merkely can pull off a win in Oregon once they finally finish counting the votes. Does anyone know, by the way, why it's taken so long to tabulate the votes in Oregon?

The true purpose of this post, though, is to congratulate the people that helped make last night's Democratic victory possible. In particular, I'm talking about the many people who volunteered some of their time and energy to hit the campaign trail, most importantly, my friends from the good old UFCW, Taylor Leake, who spent last week canvassing for Obama in Virginia, Scott Johnson, who campaigned last week for Obama in New Hampshire, and Nate Banditelli (Nate, do you have a blog?), who pounded the pavement for Obama out in Nevada. Not coincidentally, Obama won in all three states, and was the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Nevada since 1996 and the first Democrat to win Virginia since LBJ in 1964. Way to go guys! I owe all of you a beer the next time our paths cross.