I voted early (I’ll just be getting back from World Fantasy when actual voting day comes around) and I’m feeling all virtuous and civic and nervous. This won’t be the first election that people head into thinking that it’s a likely win for the Dems.

[By the way, just so there’s no doubt, I’m a liberal, socialist- leaning, tree- hugging, in- favor- of- Gay- Marriage, pro- privacy, pro- choice, anti- torture, separation-of- Church-and- State Democrat. Clear on that? And I favor Net Neutrality, too.]

I hope we’ve got our act together this time. I point you to an essay written by Caroline Spector in 2002 that is just as true when she wrote it as it is now.

“One of the things that make the Democratic Party great is also its weakness – our diversity. Unlike the Hard Right — who have hijacked the Republican Party with The Agenda That Must be Obeyed — we Democrats fight amongst ourselves about damn near everything. I think this is great, but it also causes us to lose our focus just when we need it most.We don’t keep our eyes on the prize.”

photo from basetree via SFist