Here are a couple of things I don't quite get about the Democratic race this year. 

Time As An Elected Official
Somehow Hillary Clinton has been allowed to act as if she has a long history of elected public service in her attempt to contrast her record with Barack Obama's record.  How many years of elected public service does she have under her belt?  Seven.  Being First Lady does not count.  Last time I checked, First Lady is not an elected office, nor is it vested with any constitutional powers.

Obama has served in an elected capacity for eleven years.  Hillary might be able to claim four more years as a senator, but she was not in a decisive position on policy making prior to 2001.  Also, exactly how is she better qualified on national security issues?  Mind you, she does not sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  Obama does.  Hillary, however, does sit on the Armed Services Committee.  One would think she would have used that position to take some real leadership on Iraq rather than following polls.  Well, you may ask, she's on the Homeland Security Committee, isn't she?  Nope.  Actually, Senator Obama sits on that committee.

If she wants to take credit for the Administration of President Bill Clinton, she should also be taking credit for helping to create such an incredibly divisive political climate in the 1990s.  Take credit for handing the Republican Party the largest majority it had held in Congress for many years.  It was only upon President Bush's failures of this decade that the Democratic Party was able to regain the majority.  Obama supporters should be pointing that out.  Turn her asset into a liability.

Audentes Fortunas Juvat: Fortune Favors the Bold
I find it a little troubling how many voters out there are strongly swayed by "electability."  I understand that electability is considered, and to some extent, it is a valid consideration, but it should not be determinative.  You don't want to select a nominee who can't get the job done in November.  Electability is a silly, circular argument: I should vote for Candidate A because people will vote for Candidate A.  Pure absurdity!  John Kerry won Iowa and the 2004 nomination largely on electabilty.  Democrats saw Dean as a newcomer and wanted so much to beat Bush, so they went for the safe, electable choice in Kerry.  That worked well, didn't it.  Safe choices are not always the best choices.

Let's look at electability anyway.  First, the opposition: John McCain is a self-proclaimed maverick.  His only real entrenched opposition is among conservatives in his own party.  He is largely viewed as a moderate.  He has carefully crafted a record of reaching across the aisle--sometimes to the dismay of those at the extreme conservative wing of his party.  This image has allowed him significant appeal among independent voters, who make up a quarter to a third of our General Election electorate.

Hillary has a very large and entrenched opposition.  She is weak among independents.  She has very little crossover appeal among Republicans.  She does do very well with Latinos and women in her own party.  A large plurality of women are affiliated with the Democratic Party.  The Clintons have become "Old Politics."  They have an image of divisiveness.  She'll likely pick much of the African-American vote back up in November, but probably not as enthusiastically as would have been before this primary season.  Whether her support from Democratic Latinos crosses over to the Latino General electorate remains to be seen.  Latino Protestants in Florida were a large part of why Bush won in 2000 and 2004, who appear to be a distinct voting bloc.

Obama is a relative newcomer to the national scene.  He has no large entrenched opposition  He does extremely well among African-Americans, but African Americans tend to vote for Democrats in nearly the same percentage that he is drawing in the primaries.  He does very well among men, regardless of race, but it remains to be seen whether that would hold up against another male candidate.  He does very well among independents.

What is the point of all this discussion of each candidate's pros and cons?  It is to point out that there is no real way to predict electability.  Chances are that female voters will trend toward Obama because he'll be able to talk about security without the spectre of the Iraq War hanging over him.  African-Americans will stay with him.  He'll be able to battle McCain for the male vote and independents.  Conversely, Hillary may do well among independent women, but she seems to lose independents overall to McCain.  She may pick up Latinos, but it is difficult to predict, especially given McCain's latino-favorable position on immigration reform.  One last interesting aspect is that conservatives are divided on McCain but fairly united in opposition to Clinton.  With Obama as the nominee, it may suppress conservative enthusiasm--not because Obama is conservative, but because he is not Clinton.  Given that independents are such a large part of the electorate, the Democratic constituencies are likely to stick with Obama in November, and Obama does better than Clinton among independents, you'd have to think that Obama would have the upper hand.  Obama also has a much more significant contrast of youth against McCain.  But the simple truth is that you just don't know how it is going to play out.

One more thing: If Hillary is so much better equipped as a campaigner to go toe-to-toe with the Republicans, why can't she put away Obama?  It is because contrary to the perception Clinton is trying to create, he can speak in depth on the issues, and he is just as skillful a campaigner...without the Clinton baggage.

 We began our day today making our way up the Hanakua Coast.  The plan was to drive in a northerly direction up the coast and turn our way inland to the infamous Saddle Road where we were to meet our tour van up to the top of Mauna Kea.

We began up the coast just north of Hilo.  In a few miles we came across Onomea Bay.  The tide was low enough that I was able to hop a few rocks and make it to a trail that led me up to an incredible lookout.  It was a solitary adventure because Amy preferred to stick to dry land.

The view of Onomea Bay.

We wound our way up the Hanakua Coast where we arrived at the Waipi'o Valley.

Amy above the Waipi'o Valley.

We met the van that would take us up to the summit of Mauna Kea.  Our very informative tour guide, Buck, provided a tasty dinner of of Mahi Mahi with a macademia pesto at about 8,000 feet.  Before dinner we checked out the cabin where Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson once stayed on their way up Mauna Kea.

Twain and Stevenson's one-time accomodations--surely it was in better condition.

Farther up the volcano, Buck took this shot of me and Amy with Mauna Loa rising just 120 feet below our eventual summit of 13,796 feet on Mauna Kea.

We stopped just below the summit at the CalTech Radio Observatory (above) for a brief overview of the observatories at the summit.

Then up to the summit where we watched the sunset at nearly 14,000 feet above sea level.

The sunset beyond the UK Observatory.

Dusk at 14,000 feet.

Today we'll be checking out downtown Hilo and some local sights before heading back for some relaxation on O'ahu where we'll be staying one block from the beach.  The weather looks like it is going to be sunny and clear until we depart.

We are above the clouds. Really. Amy and I are 30,000 feet in the air over the Pacific Ocean as I write this. Although we are completely exhausted from the whirlwind of the last week, and especially the last two days, we are excited to be landing in Honolulu in a little over an hour.

The excitement started on Tuesday, Election Day. Anyone who is reading this knows the results of that day by now. If you don’t, you can go to www.ShultzForCarlisle.com to find out.

Tuesday was nerve-wracking. My anxiety has rarely been so excessive.  Saturday, on the other hand, found me surprisingly tranquil and serene. I wrote to Amy on the eve of our wedding, and told her that I had no anxiety that night because I had never been so confident in a decision.  I fell in love with Amy almost from the moment she gently swatted a City Island mayfly from my cheek on our first date at the Harrisburg Senators game on August 12, 2005.  She was adorable in her pink Phillies cap. How could I resist?

Just over two years from that first date--after a 2005 election loss, Amy’s switch from news to promotions, a marriage proposal in between sets of a Sara Gazarek concert, months of wedding planning, and a 2007 election win--I am sitting on Delta flight 1825 typing out this blog as I keep looking down at the ring Amy placed on my finger just yesterday.

What a difference a couple of years can make.  The wedding and reception was more than we could have dreamed thanks to my wonderful parents, my new mom and dad, and the love of all our family and friends.  There was incredible power in the moment as Amy and I made our vows to each other and God with the love of everyone surrounding us.  I believe Pastor Megan was correct when she said that Amy and I have a running mate: God.  I can imagine that only the birth of your own child could surpass that feeling of oneness that I had with Amy yesterday.

So, we made it through the ceremony.  My nieces and nephew made it down the aisle without incident.  God was certainly with us for that. The reception was magical.  Our wedding party was announced to "The Raiders March" from Indiana Jones, and Amy and I were first introduced as the climactic theme from The Natural played--Amy obviously handed the music choices over to me. As Amy and I waited to be announced, she noticed my hands were cold.  She wondered what I had to be nervous about.

While she was wondering that, I was going over the words and music of Billy Joel’s "She’s Got A Way."  I wanted to make Amy feel special. No one but the those who needed to know had any idea that I was planning to play that song live for Amy.  I had no idea if I could go through with it. I’m comfortable singing in the solitude of my basement or the shower, but singing in front of two hundred people, even if they were friends and family, was not something I could have imagined myself doing.  That’s why I had to put things in place so that I would have no choice but to follow through with it. Amy was in tears and came down to kiss me at the end of the song. People commented that I had raised the bar to an impossible level for all the single guys there.  Pam, my mother-in-law (Doesn’t that sound nice, Pam?), was in tears too.  I’ve become pretty good at making her cry…tears of joy at least.

We managed our way through our dance even without practicing for the last three weeks.  We did our best to go table to table and thank everyone.  The night seemed to end all too soon, and we were quickly off to Philly for three hours of sleep before we caught our 6:45 a.m. plane flight to Hawaii via Salt Lake City.

We are in love, and we are fortunate to have tremendously loving family and friends.  We are on coud nine.

Sean

P.S.  Stay tuned for more from Hawaii (with pictures and maybe video) whenever we have a chance.