The Day After

It’s dark along Wildcat Creek this morning. Why am I up at 5:30 when I didn’t get to bed until 1:30 a.m. following the Republican election night party at the Clarion Inn in Fayetteville, Arkansas? Easy to answer: my mind is swirling with all the events of the past 24 hours. And the past year.

Like others in the Tea Party around the country, there are a lot of things to be happy about regarding yesterday’s election. And some disappointments. Locally, people for whom the Cutest Community Organizer to Whom I Am Married and I actively campaigned -- Justin Harris and Charlie Collins --won seats in the Arkansas legislature. But Jim Keet, for whom we actively worked for governor, lost big-time to incumbent Mike Beebe. But in context, yesterday was exceptional for Republicans in Arkansas, long a one-party state: new U.S. Senator, several new House members and major gains in the legislature. This morning, the critical office of secretary of state remains too close to call, as are those of lieutenant governor and land commissioner. Political blogger Jason Tolbert thinks they’ll all go Republican.

Across the nation, it was a Republican night. But a lot of people didn’t vote for Republicans, mind you, they voted against Democrats. That needs to change: some of us are working to make the Republican Party more worthy of receiving votes.


Creek of Consciousness

This was the first election in which most or all of the people I voted for were people that I had personally met…Indeed, one of the great things about our political activism of the past eighteen months has been all the great people we have come to know…Meanwhile, Dan Wolschon, my friend since junior high days, and I were texting each other yesterday from our respective places as poll watchers – he in Michigan, me in Arkansas. He became a Tea Party activist earlier this year…Today, the term “We the People” has a stronger meaning...This year’s campaigns and activism got me out of the cocoon of Northwest Arkansas and its cities. Sometimes those of us who live here in Walmart-Tyson-J.B. Hunt-land are unaware of the charms of the rest of this state. There are some delightful people around the state and Hot Springs in the spring is beautiful!...I’m hooked – political trips to Little Rock have made me a fan of What-a-Burger in Russellville...Last night, when it looked like Charlie Collins was going to win his legislative seat by 90 votes, he turned to the Cutest Community Organizer to Whom I Am Married and said: “You’re probably the one who got me those votes.”…Why am I writing this -- I’ve only had four hours sleep. How write can I sentence that sense makes? -- Zzzzzzzz.