On a beautiful sunny day here in Charlottesville, Virginia, on the campus of UVA, they came!  I got there at 2:30 although the event was posted to start at 4:50, but I wanted a good seat.  Turns out I got one of the very few seats, atop a stairwell leading to the Plaza near the bookstore. 

The crowd was peppy and excited.  I saw kids with T-Shirts that said "I'm too young to vote but not too young to hope;" plenty of Obamaville pins and T-Shirts too.  About 20 minutes before the projected start time, some speakers came out and revved up the crowd. 

Tom Periello, the Democratic challenger to the ensconced repub Congressman Virgil Goode, reminded us that if  Obama wins every state that Kerry won, and also Iowa where he is ahead, he will need 11 more electoral votes to win.  Virginia has 13 electoral votes!  That got us all going!

Right on time, Lily, Jill, and Michelle came out looking absolutely great!  Jill started, and she talked about the fact that the polls do not include those who have never voted before; she talked about college loans, health care, and changing our image abroad.  She ended up with a lesson about the Supreme Court, and how the next President will have enormous power in the choices of the next several justices.  This segued into Lily Ledbetter.

Lily is the woman who had a very responsible job with Goodyear Tire company in Alabama, and only when she was just about ready to retire did she find out that she had been paid profoundly less than her male cohorts who had the same job descriptions and responsibilities.  She sued and won.  Goodyear countered, and eventually it went to the Supreme Court, which decided 5/4 for Goodyear because she needed to sue within (I think she said) 6 months of when the salary discrepancy happened -- never mind that Goodyear kept this information from her intentionally.  So she lost, and there is no recourse.  I kind of had the impression that she used to be a republican because she said she would never have expected to back Obama, but she endorsed him just earlier today.  In fact, Obama and Biden co-sponsored a bill to prevent this from happening again -- repubs in the Senate kept it from coming to a vote, but they will try again after the election.  She was a good speaker, very down to earth, and I was glad she came.

Michelle, in her elegance, came next.  She had us all hooting and responding to her, "Fired UP?"  chants.  She then went on to talk about college loans, health care, equal pay for equal work, and pulling the troops safely out of Iraq, and using those funds on our own infrastructure.  She compared the Obama team's goals for our country to those of "the other team."  She never once used McCain's name, and never made disparaging comments; it was a completely positive message, and was just the right length of time too.

The message for today was:  Do your part to get people registered to vote (Deadline for Virginia is October 6th).  It was a joyous occasion, and as we were leaving, there was one coed standing with a McCain sign.  She looked either frightened or like she was going to cry.  I went right next to her and said, "You really have a hard job, don't you?"  Just beyond her was a group of 3 with signs that said "If you don't get born you can't vote."  Pretty lame.

I put those points in just because they were there, but the overwhelming feeling of the day was hope and empowerment, and enthusiasm for this great chance we have to make a difference.  Michelle's last words were, "Let's go and change the world!"

That is what we felt like doing as we went back to our homes.

I won't blame John McCain for floating the idea that Sarah Palin has more experience than anyone running; in a campaign of lies it is just one more.  But please, TPMers, don't fall into that bear trap!

Please stop perpetuating this myth:

Like it or not, she has comparable experience to our nominee..

She has governed a state that pretty much governs itself, but that isn't my point.  James Fallows explains it best:

http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/gov-palin%e2%80%99s-worldview/

Excerpts follow (emphasis mine):

It is embarrassing to have to spell this out, but for the record let me explain why Gov. Palin's answer to the "Bush Doctrine" question -- the only part of the recent interview I have yet seen over here in China -- implies a disqualifying lack of preparation for the job.

Not the mundane job of vice president, of course, which many people could handle. Rather the job of potential Commander in Chief and most powerful individual on earth.[snip]

Each of us has areas we care about, and areas we don't. If we are interested in a topic, we follow its development over the years. And because we have followed its development, we're able to talk and think about it in a "rounded" way. [snip]

Here's the most obvious example in daily life: Sports Talk radio.
 
Mention a name or theme -- Brett Favre, the Patriots under Belichick, Lance Armstrong's comeback, Venus and Serena -- and anyone who cares about sports can have a very sophisticated discussion about the ins and outs and myth and realities and arguments and rebuttals.

People who don't like sports can't do that. It's not so much that they can't identify the names -- they've heard of Armstrong -- but they've never bothered to follow the flow of debate. I like sports -- and politics and tech and other topics -- so I like joining these debates. On a wide range of other topics -- fashion, antique furniture,  the world of restaurants and fine dining, or (blush) opera -- I have not been interested enough to learn anything I can add to the discussion.  So I embarrass myself if I have to express a view.

What Sarah Palin revealed is that she has not been interested enough in world affairs to become minimally conversant with the issues. Many people in our great land might have difficulty defining the "Bush Doctrine" exactly. But not to recognize the name, as obviously was the case for Palin, indicates not a failure of last-minute cramming but a lack of attention to any foreign-policy discussion whatsoever in the last seven years

I honestly think that most of us here at TPM would have much more nuanced, thoughtful, and knowledgeable answers to questions about foreign policy, the economy, and security than she does because we actually care and think about these issues often.  She clearly has not, or she would not respond with coached phrases that belie a profound lack of knowledge.

Barack Obama has spent years developing his "worldview" regarding national concerns, which is evident in his proposed policies.  His statements about the front for the terror threat is Afghanistan and Pakistan came far ahead of Bush's belated attention to the area.

Part of experience is thinking through things.  That is where Palin is woefully lacking.  Her mind has rightly been on Alaska; she wrongly thinks that is just fine for someone who might be president of the whole of our nation.

Thanks, but no thanks, Sarah!