This election will make one half of the nation spiritual Red Sox fans

When Michelle Kwan was competing in the last winter Olympics I spent the duration of both her short and long routines running around the living room in circles humming to myself, so I wouldn't hear or see anything. I wanted her to win. Not so much because I love figure skating, or even, love Michelle Kwan, but because I have enormous, deep reservoirs of compassion for overdogs who can not get the job done.
I watched the presidential debate last Thursday. It was easy; things couldn't really get any worse for Kerry. Anything other than exactly what happened and the whole election would have been locked up for Bush. Kerry had nothing to lose (or rather, he'd already lost everything in the months before).
But he didn't lose, and now Kerry's turned into Michelle Kwan. I'm going to be jittery watching tonight's entire debate, if you can call what I'll be doing watching. He's not quite the "overdog," but he could fuck everything up. There's even more pressure than before.
When I consider what it will feel like if Bush wins, the closest approximation I can imagine is the same feeling as when an athlete or team you're rooting for loses. I don't really care about sports all that much, but come finals time I can get caught up in the Knicks or Olympic figure skaters. And when they lose, you just get that horrible feeling in your stomach, because you're emotions have morphed from hopeful, a hope you've been holding on to past any rational point, to a very final disappointment. It's over now and this is how it ended, forever and ever, no matter what should have or could have happened. And then you tell yourself, "This doesn't matter. It's a game. Go to sleep. It will matter less in the morning."
With the election you can't tell yourself those same platitudes. It does matter and it won't matter less in the morning.