View from a Democrat in Florida

January 29, 2008, was an interesting day to be a Floridian. In the last 2 presidential elections, Florida was in the spotlight. The biggest gaffe was the Florida recount issue, which ultimately resulted in George W. Bush's first ascent to the White House.

Today as a registered Democrat, I must admit that I didn't stress myself out about whether I made it to the polls because our vote didn't count this time around. At this point, we won't get our delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention this summer. However, there is still hope that that will change. Thanks to Howard Dean!

If you were watching your local news tonight in Florida, you found out that Hillary Clinton had a huge win over Barack Obama, and John McCain had a win (by only 5 percentage points) against Mitt Romney. The late night newscast also revealed that tomorrow Rudy Giuliani will be throwing his endorsement to Senator McCain.

If you are a voter in Florida, you can hope that your vote will count in November. That is, of course, if the state election is not messed up like in 2000.

As voting Americans, we have a responsibility to vote. We also have some interesting choices for President this year. It will be much more important to vote in November.

Here is another thought. Many Americans are hoping for a change. Some are hoping for the Democrats to win the White House, and others are hoping for a younger President. Still others are hoping for a President who can do a better job than George W. Bush.

This is the year when the people need to take back the right to choose their President. Tonight, Florida was reporting a record high voter turnout. That is great news for our democracy. in a time when we are hurting from a suffering economy, we must exercise our civic duty to vote. Bring power to your vote by making the effort in November. Change happens and sometimes overnight.

Post script: Rudy Giuliani focused most of his efforts on Florida, and this gamble did not work out. However, it will be interesting to see what job he gets if the Republican candidate sits in the White House in 2009. Although being a Democrat in Florida was not a blessing this time around, I still believe in the power of democracy to change a country.

God Bless America!