The End of the Endless Primary

Well, I don't know about you but the 5 months between the Iowa primary, on January 3, and the very last two states to vote today, June 3, have seemed like years.

There's been ups, downs, and in betweens. Revelations, accusations, and recrimations. It seemed like everything in the world turned upside down every day, except the one thing that matters, perhaps, most of all - our candidate. Standing in the midst of the maelstrom Barack Obama held firm to his vision for this campaign, stuck strongly to his message of change and a new politics. He insisted that calling for robust negotiations with our adversaries was not a "gaffe" but that forgetting how many troops we have in Iraq IS.

When the media desperately tried to goad him into attacking his opponent - a respected member of his own party - he refused to play that game. But, equally, he wouldn't back down for one moment to the argument that the only experience a President needs is experience playing the same old Washington games.

When John McCain and Hillary Clinton both pushed a gas tax holiday that was designed to help them through the election rather than helping America solve it's energy crisis, Barack stood up for the difficult right thing rather than the easy cynicism.

At the toughest point in his campaign, he spoke out with honesty and sensitivity about race in America and transformed a dialog that had been stuck in a cycle of accusations and bitterness.

By the time we wake up tomorrow morning, South Dakota and Montana will have reported their results. They are the last two states to vote in this primary - yes, even this year's endless primary will end.

Tonight, Barack Obama is getting a rash of Super Delegate endorsements. It looks likely that by this time tomorrow moring the votes of these final two states, supplmented by today's flood of endorsements, will put Barack Obama past the "magic number" of 2118 delegates to become the Democratic nominee for President.

I have been proud of him every single moment of this campaign. And proud to be a part of it. By tomorrow morning, I expect that I will be able to say at last that I am proud of my party for choosing an extraordinary new leader.