Before I get to the heart of my blog this morning I wanted to share something with everyone. I rarely have perfect moments in my life. Sure I have a lot of good moments or great moments but rarely do I have perfect ones and last night while coming home from a friend's house I had a perfect moment. It happend while I was driving on 85/75 south taking a friend home from the party. There is a spot on that stretch of Hwy that if you look up at the right moment you can get a great look at our incredible skyline. It was in that moment that I looked up and saw our skyline that felt like the luckest woman in the world to living in Atlanta. It was that moment that I felt pride in where I live despite all of its flaws Atlanta is really a great place to live and work. I consider myself someone very rich indeed to be living here and making a life.

Now, to the heart of my blog today. Yesterday, I was in the car with my very good friend Nikema and she and I were talking about why does everyone always want to write and talk about what is wrong with the Democratic Party? I said to her why doesn't anyone ever write about what is going right with Democratic Party? Last night at the party I was at I posed the question to some of those who were still hanging around. What is right with the Democratic Party? Believe it or not there are a lot of things right with the Democratic Party. Howard Dean our DNC chairman has mapped out a 50 state plan to win elections. He has realized that it shouldn't be about just those swing states. We need to be in play in every state. He has actually hired operatives to help make this happen. We have President Al Gore working very hard on the environmental issues that are facing this country and the rest of world. He has worked for 20 years in order to put environmental issues at the fore front of every country's agenda. There is a lot right with the Democratic Party. All one has to do is look at some of the candidates that are running in our home state to see what is right with the Democratic Party. If we take closer look to some of the house races that are surronding us right now I think the media would be hard press to find what is wrong with the Democratic Party. If someone out there right now wants to know what is right with the Democratic Party. Well, look no farther then TJ Copeland's campaign, Jan Hackney's, Kathy Ashe's, Nan Orrock's and Melanie Erye's campaigns. These five people's campaigns are what stick out in my mind as to what is right with the Democratic Party. They stand up for what they know to be is right and just in our world. One I know would go as so far as to say I don't care if I lose my election there are some things that are far more important to fight for. These candidates are the ones that help make being in the Democratic Pary worth it here in the state of Georgia for me anyway. Why can't the media take a closer look into the heart of our party and see what is right with it instead of always looking at what is wrong with it or what is broken with it? Is just me or something else because rarely do I hear about what is wrong with the Republican Party? Is it because we are the minority party that everyone wants to gain up on us? I just don't seem to grasp why is it people can't ever talk about what we are doing right. Aren't we getting back to what brought us into power between 1992-2000? We are doing a lot of grass roots campaigning. We are taking to the streets to get the word out about the Democratic Party and our values. There is a lot going right for the Democratic Party these days. We have leaders even among the Young Democrats of Atlanta and Georgia that help the Democratic Party and what is right with it. We as Democrats need to keep together as a family and not get distracted by how the media paints us. We can't lose focus on what makes our party the best party. We also need to embrace what makes us different from the other guys. They are not without problems as well. Let the media say what they want about the Democratic Party as long as we know that we are moving in the right direction then all is good. We are going to have ups and downs things we will happen within our Party that we may not agree with, but as long as we keep on keeping on we will get back on top and it will the Republican Party that people will gain up on once again. I'm looking forward to the day when all you read and hear about is what is wrong with the Republican Party. Won't that be a happy day?

Melissa