Hail to the Possible Victors
I remember vividly the night of Nov. 7, 2000. My family threw a party that night, with pizza and the big-screen TV in the basement set to CNN. It was a little reminiscent of the Saints playoff party I threw the next winter.
But more than anything else, what I remember about that night is lying in bed, after midnight, listening to someone on NPR saying that we would know who was president in the morning. I remember saying to myself that, surely, it would be Al Gore, not George W. Bush.
I was wrong. But you already knew that.
The Gore campaign was the first campaign that I ever really threw myself into. My mom and I worked hard to make sure that Al Gore won Oregon that year, made phone calls and knocked on doors and handled mailers, the whole nine yards. It’s funny to think back on that, because since 2000, Oregon has gone from a swing state to a solid Democratic lock in presidential elections. But in those days we were terrified that Ralph Nader would win enough votes to put Oregon in the column on the right.
These days, I am no stranger to the political process. But for my political lifetime, being the time between 1998 and 2006, I have seen nothing but defeat from my political party. A friend likes to say that the current Republican shambles makes us look bad, because all it took to reduce the Democrats to this kind of collapse was a little prodding, and we took care of the rest ourselves.
In 2004, I remember studiously ignoring all of the Congressional campaigns in favor of the presidential campaign. We knew, on some level, that winning Congress was not a possibility — that our best hope was to win the White House. In fact, that was true in 2000 as well. We scarcely noticed any of the Congressional races. All eyes were on Al Gore… who would have ruled over a Congress more Republican than it is now, on the eve of the 2006 midterms.
So it is with glee that I read the polls each morning. For the first time since I was a child, for the first time since before I knew what the difference was, it is possible for the Democratic Party to take control of one of the houses of Congress. But I scarcely know what to do with myself. We have no idea what it feels like to win, and I worry that we’ve forgotten the feel of winning. It’s like when NU beat Ohio State 33-27 two years ago: There were fans dangling from the uprights, trying to figure out how to tear them down (hint: you can’t), and screaming through the streets of Evanston — but when Buckeyes fans win big, they torch the streets of Columbus. We’d been losing so long, we didn’t know how to win.
I know what I will do if we lose, which is go to bed morosely and wear black for a week. But if the Democrats take control of Congress, should I run screaming in the streets, spray my friends with champagne, or crack open a bottle of red wine as a toast?
Can you imagine that I’m looking forward to Tuesday? One must never count one’s chickens before they’re hatched. But, what’s the old football saying? Predictions be damned — that’s why they play the game.
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