I suspect most of you who read this blog don't need the nag. I'm not pandering here, truly, i just feel like most of my friends, most people i know, most of those who'd find what I say even remotely interesting GET IT and know that this is an astonishingly close race, even now. Before i wrote this, I went to the CNN.com website and looked at the "battleground states" (ugh, what a phrase for states where the vote is close) and if you're thinking really it doesn't matter, OH IT DOES. MORE THAN IT'S EVER MATTERED BEFORE. Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Dakota, Indiana, north Carolina, Nevada and Virginia are some of the states where it's so close, your vote can change things. And yes, I want to think all my friends think like me and are voting for Obama, Of course, I admit it. VOTING MATTERS. GET OUT THERE PLEASE. Even in a state where it's "clear" who probably will win, YOUR VOTE WILL MATTER as the pundits endlessly analyze whether the new President has a "mandate" and whether he will have a Congress allied with his interests. VOTE!

Sorry. Volume button got stuck there. PLEASE do not think it's over, a done deal, or that it doesn't matter. Your life will be affected by the next president's choice of Interior Secretary, Secretary of Defense and Supreme Court Justices. By who gets to prosecute what crimes all over America, and with what freedom. Whether your library book choices will be private, or you have to worry about emailing a friend and making a joke. Who's going to run Energy, Homeland Security. WHO THE SURGEON GENERAL IS GONNA BE. (oops, rant button got stuck.) Who, for godsake will set policy about science, global warming, stem cell research, the borders, Medicare, prescription prices. Oh man, does it matter. Whether people like me can get into a public building. Whether your friend with MS might see a lessening of symptoms with a new treatment. Whether your parents, or you, (or me, or us) will maybe avoid the ravages of Alzheimer's or cancer. Whether plays and paintings and dance and music will thrive or be snubbed as "elitist" and funding for everything that makes life beautiful and fun will be cut because the powers that be don't like your taste and think it's not "real American" to like that stuff. Whether the Lady in the Harbor still lifts her lamp beside the golden door. ("Okay, huddled masses!!! Everyone up for volleyball!") Whether you can take that trip overseas and not tell folks you're Canadian, because it's embarrassing right now (at best) to be from the US.

PLEASE, if you've got early voting, get going - the lines will be long Tuesday and you don't want to have to stand there, do you? If you've got your absentee ballot, PLEASE MAIL IT TODAY, just so it doesn't get lost. Vote for Senator, Governor, Judge and Representative. Vote for those initiatives (And oh please if you live in South Dakota, please tell me you've voted on Measure 11 (I hope against).

Oh, please, please please vote. if you're my friend and you like me, promise me you've done it or you will. You don't have to post or email, just nod. If you don't know me but you find what I have to say to be interesting, trust me. This is one of the most important elections I've EVER seen and I'm 55 and lived through 1968, Nixon, Reagan, McGovern, Humphrey, Agnew, and I've seen how much it matters. It matters more than I've even begun to say. PLEASE be sure you've voted before the end of Tuesday's polls close. It'll be one of the best things you can do. EVER.