Leaving New York

And so the adventure begins. For a long time this felt like a pipe dream but now we're sat here, in the lobby of the Hampton Inn in Tampa, and it’s definitely real. I had a day and a half in New York before hooking up with Rav and heading down to Florida.

I’ve been to America once before but just for a one-week city break in New York. This time I’m going to get to see a different side to the country. The first thing that strikes you is the change in temperature - from coat weather in New York to t-shirt weather in Tampa.

The state of Florida is very diverse, with a huge population of urban and rural communities, including Jewish Americans, Hispanics (famously including Cuban Americans in Miami), African Americans and of course retired military men and women. Can’t really say what I expect to see at this stage as it depends what I end up doing, and where – but I’m really looking forward to being involved in a little piece of history.

In the last two Presidential elections Florida has been one of the key battleground states, where things are decided. The polls are looking good but we can take nothing for granted, and there’s a lot of important work to do between now and polling day. Senator Obama has inspired thousands of people who’ve not voted before to register to vote, and the Party’s excellent field organisation has made that a reality (though there are concerning reports about legitimate voters – especially non-white people and less well-off Americans, the majority of whom might be expected to break for Obama - being struck off the rolls in a number of swing states). So our task now comes down to GOTV – Get Out The Vote. And there's a local rally to help do that tomorrow, which we'll be attending.

I’m going to come across as pretentious by saying this but the feeling of anticipation and energy here reminds me of those famous lines from Wordsworth's Prelude recalling the excitement of the French revolution: ‘Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive / And to be young was very heaven’.