今天，在整理去年参选桑玛郡郡议员的文件时，我找到一份人民来信，来信人是马丁太太，使我想起了参选初期时的一段小插曲。
依照新洲竞选法，候选人的第一站是郡民主党代表会，桑玛郡民主党有大约400名党代表，马丁太太是这400名党代表之一，也就是说我政治生命决定权的四百分之一在她手中。
当时只有两个席位空缺，但是包括本人在内，共有四位候选人，所以任何一票都不能轻而易举的放弃。党代会选出的两人将成为民主党的正式候选人，失败者一般收兵，但也可以在民主党初选时（类似于全党党员会议，全党党员自愿投票），挑战党代表选出的的党内正式候选人，挑战者获胜的话，成为新的民主党的正式候选人，失败者无权进入普选与共和党抗争。在州以下的竞选大多是这样选出来的，与总统竞选的游戏规则大有不同。
（上组图：与前总统克林顿、州长Jon S.
Corzine一起发表竞选演讲。）
马丁太太的来信怒气冲天，她指责我身为女人，不支持希拉里太太，忘恩负义，成为奥巴马的党代表
(delegate)。
她的老公是非裔黑人，在新州州立洛格斯大学做教授，最近刚刚过世。老公聪颖开明，若在世肯定会和她一起支持希拉里太太。如果我不承认支持奥巴马有错，不仅马丁太太不会投我的票，她还会让他所有的朋友不给我投票。
（上图：希拉里太太在去年八月民主党在Denver开的党代会上，因党代表的票数(delegates)不足，含泪正式退出总统竞选。）
这可不得了！我一急，给马丁太太写了一封长信表达对奥巴马的真心感受，令人欣慰的是，我当时对奥巴马的判断已经成为今天的现实，而且虽然我和马丁太太持有不同政见，她还是投了我一票并成为我的好友。
信的原文如下：
Dear Ms. Martin，
Thank you for your
note. I am happy to explain why I am supporting
Barack Obama in the Presidential campaign. But I
want to first make clear that I am a huge fan of Hillary Clinton as
well – and if she ultimately gets the nomination, I would
wholeheartedly support her.
As a woman and an ethnic
minority in this country, I can relate to the hurdles that both
candidates have faced in their lives and I have equal admiration
for their abilities to break through barriers.
However, to me, Barack Obama’s message is particularly
inspiring.
While I believe that Hillary
Clinton would be a very good President and I would be especially
proud to have a Democratic woman in the Oval Office, I believe that
Barack Obama has the potential not only to break through the glass
ceiling, but to bring the country together in a way that it has not
been.
Just as your husband would
have looked past questions of race in supporting Senator Clinton, I
hope you can understand (even if you don’t agree with it) that for
me, Senator Obama’s themes of hope and unity after the cynical
divisiveness and stagnation of the Bush years cause me to look
beyond race and gender as well.
On a personal level, I have
worked hard over the past few years to help maintain the working
Democratic majority on the Montgomery Township Committee -- a town
with an electorate that is roughly evenly split between Democrats
and Republicans (with Republicans holding a slight
edge). Until seven years ago, the Township
Committee had no Democrats on it at all. We have
been successful over time by trying to emphasize good
decision-making that reaches out to the whole
community. I see Obama attempting to do the same
thing at the national level. I strongly feel that
the country is eager for that kind of leadership.
The political agendas of both Senators Clinton and Obama are quite
similar (and again, that is why I would enthusiastically support
Clinton as well if she is nominated) – but I believe that Senator
Obama would be more effective at enacting that agenda if he were
elected. Much as I love all that Hillary Clinton
has achieved and all she stands for, I worry that she would not be
the right person to raise the country above the partisan bickering
that has stymied reform in Washington.
I realize that my generation
of women in America has reaped the benefits of the battles fought
by women of Senator Clinton’s generation. I think
the same could be said for Senator Obama vis a vis the
generation of African-Americans who fought the battles in the 1950s
and 1960s for civil rights.
In the end, I suppose that
(for me) Senator Obama represents a new generation focused on the
future even as it stands on the accomplishments of the
past. As the campaigns drag on, I know sniping by
supporters on both sides threaten to tarnish both
candidates. I hope that doesn’t
continue. We cannot afford to lose sight of the
bigger prize in November in the General Election.
With respect to the county
race, I do still hope I can get your support.
Somerset County (like the nation as whole) is so overdue for
political change. Somerset County needs
Democratic representation on the Board of Freeholders as
desperately as the country as a whole needs a Democrat in the White
House!
Respectfully,
Cecilia Xie Birge
