I woke up Tuesday morning sure we were going to win. When I drove into town to vote this afternoon I stopped and bought a bottle of champagne.
The plan was to celebrate like the Bills had just won the Super Bowl on New Year's Eve. But it's Wednesday now and the champagne is still on ice.
Iowa's a mess. The make-or-break state of Ohio's not certain. And Edwards at least has pledged to fight to "make each vote count." That's Southern-senator-speak for "protracted legal battles."
But the rollercoaster events of last night have had one important effect. They have forced us to realize that we might lose.
When NBC called Ohio for Bush and the ticker at the bottom of the screen inched one electoral vote shy of 270 - the number that we knew all along would affirm or destroy all our dreams - we stared that loss straight in the face.
As Edwards said, Democrats have to fight to win with all we have. But we also have to prepare for what we would do next if we lose that fight.
Our loss would hurt most because Bush would stay in power and we shudder to think at the suffering the nation we love would endure. But our loss would also hurt because we were so sure that presented with the objective truth America would make the right choice.
We showed our people the president's record of job losses, environmental damage, big deficits and weakness in war. And America might vote for four more years of it.
We knew the Bush campaign would use shockingly mendacious tactics to skew the truth. But our inherent faith in the American people told us that the people would see through it.
Though Tuesday night's loss has shattered that belief, we must not let it shatter our faith in politics.
It would be easy, even logical in some ways, to give up on America. We'll ask ourselves: Is getting involved in politics futile if the people make such bad choices? If Bush can win on his awful record, can any president ruin the country as long as he or she can sell it to the people?
We can't control the doubts that will plague us for weeks. But we can pledge to get involved, stay together, work harder, and reach farther.
We must do it for two reasons. First, only half the nation voted for Bush, and we must keep serving the half of our people who chose our vision.
But we must also never forget that we represent the 90 percent of people who voted for Bush who would have been better off had they voted Democratic. We can't give up on the military mom in West Texas who voted for Bush because she bought his twisted claim that Kerry voted against funding for our troops.
She would be better off with a leader who tells the truth about matters of war and peace. We must keep our faith in politics so we can get into power and bring her son or daughter home safely.
We can't give up on the poor rural farmer in Mississippi who voted for Bush because the NRA told him that Kerry would take his gun away.
He would be better off with a leader who invests in education in poor rural states and works to secure health care for all of our people because he believes in the American dream.
We can't give up on the suburban family that voted for Bush because he sold them the lie that his tax cuts helped them and Kerry would raise their taxes.
They would be better off with a leader with a fiscal policy that cuts taxes for the middle class, reduces the national debt, and invests in Medicare and Social Security so their children and their children's' children can live as well as they did.
The "red state" and "blue state" clich?(c) is old, tired and inaccurate. New Illinois Senator Barack Obama rejected it at this summer's convention. He said that we are the party of red, white and blue.
He was right. And it's why, even if we Democrats lose the election, we must not lose hope. Because we are the hope for America.
If we don't let this hard loss take the hope and faith from our hearts, we will win four years from now. And future generations will see the Bush presidency as a destructive anomaly -- a last gasp of reactionary policy that preceded a liberal revolution.
The champagne is still on ice. If we win, the party is still on.
But around the time that NBC called Ohio for Bush, I checked an important fact online. I learned from The Wine News that like hope, champagne well preserved gets better with age.
If we lose now but stay strong I know we will win in four years, and all Americans who proudly call themselves Democrats are invited to come drink it with me.
