I hope the pundits point out tonight just how significant a moment it would be if Obama takes Virginia.  It would essentially mean that the state where slavery was first planted in America would be the state to hand us our first black president.  Only 40 years ago it was illegal for blacks and whites to marry in Virginia, the state would throw people in jail for doing so, and it fought all the way to the Supreme Court to keep that law.  Now, the state sits on the verge of electing a man born from such a union.  Obama's parents' marriage would have been illegal in Virginia, and the state would have officially considered him illegitimate.  Now, they're about to legitimize him as president.  We should never lose sight of the stark reality of continued racial injustice in this country, from a fundamentally unequal education system to a discriminatory incarceration state with a population of millions.  But now is a time to pause and note the significance of history.  Now is a time for hope.