The Eleventh Hour

For nearly two years candidates across the United States have been campaigning, mudslinging, and jockeying for position heading into today. No amount of fundraising dollars or volunteer campaigning is going to change anything now, now it is time for America to decide. Since Barack Obama's historic victory two years ago, we have been governed by one of the most progressive administrations in the history of our union. Today we will have the chance to reaffirm our support for such measures, or use the ballot as a referendum on the “change” President Obama campaigned on. In Illinois, fighting for the Senate seat vacated by the President, Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias have exchanged partisan jabs leading up to the eleventh hour. The race has been one of the tightest in the entire country, partially due to the lack of enthusiasm among voters for either candidate. Polling has put Kirk in the lead by modest single digits, but President Obama has been in the state this past week campaigning on behalf of the state's Democrats, including Giannoulias. If there is anywhere in the country that the President's rallying and support can put a candidate over the electoral threshold, it would surely be in his home state of Illinois. A state in which the President has had the opposite effect on the Democratic nominee is West Virginia, where Governor Joe Manchin faces businessman John Raese in the race for Senate. The Democratic governor was an earlier favorite due to his substantial job approval ratings across the state. Yet the predicted landslide victory has turned to absolute toss-up as Raese has tied Manchin to the current administration's liberal agenda, most specifically their push for a Cap and Trade initiative. Raese's latest effort has been in broadcasting a sound bite from Manchin's CNBC interview in which he said “"They're going to have to pay for the carbons, whether cap and trade or whether it's in a carbon tax." In West Virginia coal is still king, and the passage of such a bill could have disastrous consequences on the state's economy. The result of the West Virginia senate race has been speculated to be a microcosm of the election as a whole. While the Republicans could conceivably lose West Virginia and yet make historic gains in the House, and retake the Senate… a victory in West Virginia could be an early nail in the coffin of the Democrats. With the west coast polls still open as the results of West Virginia and other telling races including the aforementioned Illinois Senate race begin to take shape, it could affect voters in tights races in Nevada, California, and Washington. If the Republicans appear to be victorious in the east, it could detract Democratic voters in the west from making the trip to the polls, thus expanding the scope of the Republican's victory. This effect could also occur in the inverse, with early Democratic victories driving later like-minded voters to the polls with the hope to stop a Republican election wave. Today we have the opportunity to direct the nation in the course of prosperity, but it is not up to politicians in our state capitols or in Washington D.C., it is up to us. The key to our freedom is our popular sovereignty, but it is not enough to merely have the “key” but we must put it in the ignition, and drive our nation forward. Brad Fingeroot is a leading conservative youth voice in the State of Michigan, and is Chairman of his county's nationally recognized Teenage Republicans organization. Brad can be contacted by email at Fingerootb@yahoo.com.