Hi. Just couldn't resist the temptation to share my favorite reason

for wishing I could lend Karl's presence to a gathering of my horny biker acquaintences who, after consuming massive quantities of beer, weed and meth, aren't too picky about who gets to be prom queen.

After the inexcusably mealy mouthed capitulation of John Kerry in the early morning hours of Nov. 3rd, I watched as my fellow campaigners

drowned their sadness, disappointment and anger at the hotel bar that our state Democratic party had set up headquarters in. In their innocent (well, sort of) young faces I saw something dark and disturbing. Cynicism. The feeling that they had been sold down the river and all of their collosal effort and idealism didn't add up to a tall bucket of shit in the final analysis.

This unlikely army of scruffy kids in sea of blue jeans had taken on the best sleaze that money can buy and come within an angel's hair of sending them back to the rock from whence they came. It was these kids, along with "can do" senior citizens and single, woring mom's that gave John Kerry (and his glimmer twin) a campaign far and above anything that he rightfully deserved. I worked the phone banks right along with them and caught their infectious spirit of optimism and youthful zeal. My God, it felt good.

The fact of the matter is that we really don't know conclusivley who won the election. Nor will we ever, most likely. Through swift boat sleaze and the politics of personal smear I saw these indomnitable young people cintinue to pursuade the undecided to vote the democratic ticket and protect democracy. It wasn't until the night of the 2nd, when I saw Karl Rove on TV as he left the campaign plane wearing his

John Berry "hunting outfit" that the GOP has so incesantly mocked that I finally came undone.

In mocking Kerry, Rove was also mocking the Democratic youth army. The nmistakable message he conveyed was one of abject cynicism. It really doen't matter how good the message or how hard you campaign for your candidate at all. No, not in Karl Rove's America. It's the level to which you are willing to stoop in order to win that's important. Smear

and distortion and initmidation and fear and hate are what wins elections these days. I thought of those kids having to watch that sick son of a bitch as he personally puked all their altruism, idealism and selflessness. I lost my head and came apart at the seams and marched next door where my weed growing neighbor had a monolithic Bush/Cheney sign that fouled the neighborhood for months. I ripped it to shreds and laughed while I did it. I hoped he would come outside and see my work as I had a few choice words for him that I'd been saving for some time.

Now, I know that this was unladylike in the extreme and was probably a violation of the law as well. You know, I thought about these factors and then I saw in my mind's eye the scenes I had shared with those incredibly special young people. I smiled, looked at the sign and spit on it before casually walking inside.