The View From Your Election: Ohio

A reader writes:

I got up early this morning in hopes of beating the crowd.  I expected turnout would be far greater in this election cycle, but not that different from my previous experiences. I could not have been more wrong. When I arrived at my polling location at 6:30 I was greeted by an overflow crowd which formed outside of the church where voting was being held. There were middle aged white men in business attire, African-American senior citizens, middle aged white women and young people of all colors quietly conversing amongst each other while waiting for the opportunity to cast their ballot.  I'm not usually one to get too emotional but after hearing a middle aged African-American man talk about how this was the first time he's ever voted, I was struck about how deep the change moniker truly runs through this campaign.

A great deal has been made about this election being a referendum on George Bush but I think it runs much deeper than partisan politics. This election is about inspiring segments of the population that have long eschewed politics because they felt alienated by the system.  It's a living demonstration to children of all colors and ethnicities that America truly is the land of opportunity and that if they work hard there is no limit to what they can achieve.  It's an opportunity to strike back at the politics of personal destruction, xenophobia and anti-intellectualism.