Today, Saturday the 18th, there was a GOTV event here for all the Team Leaders and major Volunteers. The Obama Campaign wanted to train them all for Election Day. The key is organization. As I've said: it's all about the ground game. Always has been, always will be. I was planning to go. I wanted to badly to go. I was one of the few who knew the secret: Jill Biden was going to be there.

My first thoughts? "Holy fucking shit." Jill Biden. Like I always tell my friends, "when Joe Biden says his wife Jill is dropdead gorgeous, he's right and he means it." I wanted so badly to meet her. But at around 9:45 on the 17th, the day before, I was told that I needed to head the office. Out-of-state volunteers were coming to canvass door-to-door from Oklahoma. All the capable volunteers were going to the GOTV training, and I... I was stuck at the office. 

I mean, I didn't object. I was upset. I mean, I wanted to go to the training, and I wanted to meet Jill. But instead, I had to head the office. After two weeks. With only a few hours of sleep. Believe me, it was frustrating. And tiring. And it'll all be worth it when I wake up on November 5th. But you know, it gets tough sometimes. People are jerks. We're all overworked. I feel like I've been working here for months when it's only been weeks. And covering the office while everyone else was at the cool GOTV event with Jill Biden was just... unfair.

Then my cell phone rang. Unknown number. I picked it up.

"Hi, is this Nathan?"

"Yeah, hi."

"Hi, this is Jill Biden."

She was calling me to tell me thanks for the work I was doing. She told me, "it's because of people like you that we're going to win on Election day." And she's right. But not just people like me. People like all of you who have gotten out there and volunteered. All of you who have sacrificed for this. All of you who have put your blood, sweat and tears into this campaign, and into our futures.

I said to her the only thing I could think of at the time, knowing she only had a minute to speak. I said, "Jill, I met your husband at a rally last Friday. Shook his hand. And I wanna tell you. I love you guys. I love you guys. You're awesome. And thank you. Thank you for everything you're doing."

Jill didn't have to do that. I was having a bad day. I missed her event. Her time was constrained. But people, that's what this is about. Barack, Michelle, Joe and Jill are real people, real like you and like me. Sometimes they seem like larger-than-life figures, but honestly? They just want to save this country like we do. Like I know I do.

Hey, Jill? If you ever read this, you need to know how you made my day. You are awesome. Thank you. I know it wasn't a big deal for you, but for me? I think it just gave me enough of a push to get me through these last couple weeks. I can do it. It's not that far off. Change is coming. I can feel it.

So said John McCain on David Letterman. Johnathan Martin reports that,

"Letterman also asked McCain whether Palin said that Obama 'pals around with terrorists.'"

After hesitating for a moment, McCain answered, 'Yes. And he did.'"

Though it is not surprising, one must wonder, "why?" Simply, "why?" It is not as simple as, "it's John McCain." It's not as simple as, "we should expect this." It's not as simple as, "McCain's been doing it all along."

As Bob Schieffer asked of the two candidates, "Are each of you tonight willing to sit at this table and say to each other's face what your campaigns and the people in your campaigns have said about each other?"

I would like to see John McCain say that to Obama's face. I would like him to look Senator Obama in the eye and say, "Senator, you have palled around with terrorists, and you must answer for it." If he can't do that, he cannot make such statements in any other situation, circumstance, or venue.

John McCain is not a hero. He's a lowly coward, and frankly, I am sick and tired of the excuses, of any kind, for the man. He is slime. I know many people may feel this way, and I know many have expressed as much. But I have not. I have felt a reservation to do so. I did not, and still want not, to lower myself to the level of name-calling and hate mongering. And I refuse to do it now. But enough is enough. It has to stop.

I'm here in Missouri, volunteering full-time in order to see that Obama wins the state. Because here's the thing: I don't just want Obama to win. If that was the case, I would feel OK right now. Many out there are seeing the numbers and feeling more reassured. But I don't. This isn't just about winning anymore. It's about sending a message. A message that the kinds of slime and sleaze that John McCain has elicited cannot be accepted in our political discourse. No more. No more.

The only way that we can get that message across is if Barack Hussein Obama, Junior Senator from Illinois, completely destroys John Sidney McCain in a landslide on November Fourth. The only way that's going to happen is if the underdog from day one, the guy no one thought would make it this far, the black guy with a funny name and big ears, crushes the old white Washington insider in a defeat so massive that not a single person can question its authenticity and validity. I refuse to let Barack Obama crawl by with a win. He needs to pass that finish line with enough energy to run another mile.

I refuse to let it stand anymore. I'm asking every one of you, every single one of you, to get out there in these last two weeks of the election, to volunteer whenever you can. Knock on doors, make phone calls, talk to your friends and neighbors. Spread information, education the undecideds. If you do... If we do... Together, we can vindicate ourselves, our choice, our candidate, our country and our future. This is our last chance. And I know that I may be preaching to the choir, but it needs to be said. Help me. Help Barack Obama. Help the United States. This is not a question of whether we can or not. Because all we have to do is listen to Barack Obama, and remember that it's true, as it always has been... Yes we can.

The debates are over. Obama clearly won all three. John McCain "improved" by some metrics, some pundits have declared, over the three debates. Yet he still lost. In this most recent debate last night, as David Gergen pointed out, watching McCain on the split screen was "almost like [seeing] an exercise in anger management." Yet that wasn't really different in any of the three debates. The split screen just made it all the more apparent. And that's where temperament comes in.

Throughout this election, we have seen some extremely negative, and extremely brutal attacks, from all sides of the aisle. In such an unfortunate turn of events, and as a result of feeding the fire, we have seen certain people on one side of the aisle resort to racist, bigoted and ignorant statements and calls, and not only proclaim the opposing candidate as a terrorist, but call openly for his death. "Kill him!" "Off with his head!" (And let's speak not of the fact that such things sound so familiar to those terrorists these same people declare to hate.)

And throughout the entirety of it, Barack Obama has kept his calm, and his cool. He's kept his temper under control, even under hte most trying of times. The worst we have seen him was, if I remember correctly, a statement he made concerning his wife, Michelle, when the "whitey" lies and rumors began to spread. Yet even then, his temperament was intact.

When Obama came under fire for Jeremiah Wright, he did not lash out at the world, but rather responded a speech that has now become iconic, and will surely go down in history as one of the greatest speeches of our generation.

When Obama came under fire for Bill Ayers, he simply said, "listen, I was eight when the Wethermen committed those heinous acts," accompanied by this adorable photo. What more can one say? But these were just the things that got the huge media attention. There were plenty of isolated incidents, there were plenty of smaller, less publicized attacks on him. On his character. His patriotism. His love of country. His entire being.

But never once did he say, "you have no right to ask these questions," as John McCain and his campaign did when anyone tried to question his running mate on anything, even mundane policy  issues. Obama had to walk a tightrope. He had to portray himself as calm, cool and collected leader, but at the same time, as a forceful and decisive one. And he had to avoid being seen as an uppity, angry black guy. We all know that disgusting stereotype.

I know that most people here probably already realize the things I'm saying. There have already been such comments and posts. But now that the debates are over, and especially after Bob Shieffer's brilliant question concerning the tone of negativity that has been infused in the campaign, it needs to be said again. Barack Obama has done something that was practically impossible to do. And he has done it consistently throughout this campaign. He has improved upon what was bad, and enhanced what was good about his conduct in this campaign.

And he has done it through more than most Presidential candidates ever have to. His primary battle with Hillary Clinton was comparable in many ways to a general election campaign. It's heated, contentious tone. It's do-or-die media narrative. It's urgency. Everything. And we need to recognize that. If Obama, as I hope and believe, wins on November fourth, it will be because he has run one of the most brilliant political campaigns in a generation, done it against all possible odds, and more than anything else, kept his temperament calm, collected, and consistent. He is truly a man to be admired.