I know a lot of us are feeling some pretty strong emotions right now. Many of us are elated about the closing of the primary season and the nomination of Barack Obama; others are still grieving the defeat of Hillary Clinton. But there's one thing for sure: the general election race is officially on, and it's time to begin brainstorming our strategy for ensuring a Democratic victory in November.

The first key to victory is going to be galvanizing support for Obama. Many in the Clinton camp have been vocal about their refusal to support Obama in the general election. From a demographic standpoint, this means that Obama needs to find a way to reach out to women and older voters to heal the wounds that were opened during the primary. The answer? Pin down John McCain's position on abortion and Supreme Court appointments. At least two Supreme Court justices are set to step down during the next president's term, and getting John McCain to say that he'll support justices who will help bring about the end of Roe v. Wade would be the wake-up call the party needs to bring women back into the fold. And as for older voters? McCain's positions on social security and healthcare will certainly win back a lot of these (temporarily) lost votes. We're not getting them all back, but most is good enough.

Secondly, McCain has given Obama a golden opportunity through his decision to steal and pervert Obama's campaign slogans and artwork. Obama's response should be pointed and simple: the Republicans are out of ideas. Obama once comlimented the Republicans of the 80s for being the "party of ideas." The talking point now? "While most of their ideas weren't very good, at least the Republicans of the 80s were coming up with new ideas. Today's Republicans can't even say that."

McCain has made another tactical error worthy of exploitation: inviting Obama to "town hall" meetings where the two would have informal debates. Obama should take every advantage of this. The enthusiasm that we've seen for Obama at his rallies and speeches should translate well to this forum, and the low attendance rates for McCain should surely show an enormous contrast in support for the two candidates. And that's nothing to say of the contrast between the two candidates: Obama is young, handsome and eloquent, while McCain is old, wrinkly and prone to misspeaking.  And if McCain decides after a few of these appearances to retreat, Obama can simply call him out for it.

It's going to be a fun election cycle.