Hope you all saved all the daylight you wanted, ’cause it’s over. Extra hour for late nite partying tonight! So turn those clocks back and let’s celebrate!

With this free gift of time I would like to share what is making me so happy tonight. Virginia Democrats are in the midst of unrolling an unprecedented get out the vote effort for this Tuesday, when we elect our new legislature. There are not so many elections in ’07, so our gains will be seen as symbolic progress for the national party.

Yes, I know, Blue Dog Dems, traitor Dems, et al, but we are talking about a conservative state that is moving in a good direction at a fairly rapid clip. Two consecutive Dem governors, for the Senate we are on track to replace the Repub Warner with the Dem Mark Warner, and the outcome of the presidential election in Virginia is now uncertain—our electoral votes do not automatically go to Thug-in-Chief Giuliani (R-Terra/Be afraid!) or other subpar candidate. From WaPo:

“A win in Virginia will send a powerful message around the nation about next year and the outcome of the 2008 elections,” Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) said while soliciting Democratic volunteers to help get out the vote.

Did I mention how much I adore Webb, who is front and center in the Senate efforts to delegitimize an attack on Iran, establish a new Truman Commission on war contracting scandals, and spare our military from being sent back to the hellhole that is Iraq before they have had adequate rest? Talk about supporting the troops, this is it.

A particularly splendid victory would be in my own district where incumbent Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, wife of Congressman Tom Davis [who unlike Waxman, found nothing worth investigating] is pitted against the seasoned and reasonable Chap Peterson for State Senate. The Davis campaign has been predictably nasty and a victory would be very sweet. It’s all about get out the vote, and we are so working on it.

And, at least in Virginia, we are finally beginning to get the winning coalition together:

Labor unions, who view Virginia’s elections as a test run for next year’s presidential race, are also flooding the state. The AFL-CIO is mobilizing 150 union volunteers in Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia and Roanoke…also getting help from the Human Rights Campaign…and the Sierra Club.

In a week where we have experienced many setbacks and disappointments—and as one who works in Russia I bow to no one in my capacity to be depressed about how the world is going—I do see signs of hope. If states like Alaska and Virginia can turn blue so quickly, we might just make it after all.