Of Hockey Moms & Health Care

With Sarah Palin embracing the hockey mom label and bringing the term front and center in the political arena,  we visited a group of hockey moms in Virginia to find out what issues had been the most important to them in the election.  

For Sally, the most important issue was the government's increasing role in all sectors of life, including health care.   "Our government keeps becoming more and more socialist," she said. "It's nice, warm and fuzzy to say everyone's entitled to health care, but what does it mean for the doctors, patients and choice of care?"   

We hope that the new Obama administration will eventually answer that question, for Sally and for the thousands of her fellow Virginians currently without health care.   We met with one woman who could offer some advice.  Richmond attorney, Phyllis Katz, founded the organization LINC, www.cancerlinc.org, to provide assistance to cancer patients who are overwhelmed by the thicket of business and legal issues currently entwined with their care.  She says, "My passion is to open doors, cut through red tape, negotiate with hospitals."    Send this woman to Washington.  

Election Day - Obama Headquaters

Across town, Phyllis Randall was busy working at the Obama headquarters in Leesburg, where the buzz of anticipation filled the offices and spilled over to the sidewalks outside.  "For the most part of the day, I've been driving, taking people to the polls," Phyllis said.  "I took a 94-year-old woman who said she hadn't had this feeling since Kennedy."  She also brought her two boys, 14 and 12 respectively, to help out.  "I said to them, you're going to want to tell your children, your great-grandchildren, that you helped Senator Obama get elected."  

And indeed they will be able to do that. 

The boys' great-grandfather, Phyllis' grandfather, was a Pullman Porter who traveled to Washington,DC in August 1963 to mark with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Phyllis had both grandparents on her mind a few days after Barack Obama's historic win. 

"I'm driving down Constitution Avenue and there's a place you can look back and see the White House.   I burst into tears.  I was sobbing over the enormity of it all, that African American slaves laid the first bricks.  And I thought, Oh my God, Grandma and Grandpa, look what we just did.  It was an amazing thing that we just did." 

She added, "We didn't do it as African Americans.  We did it as Americans."   

Election Day - McCain Headquarters

We spent Election Day in Virginia, visiting polling places and talking to women who spent the day making sure the election ran smoothly.   Just before the polls closed, we headed to the candidates' offices in Loudoun County.  At the McCain headquarters, we met Melinda Lewis, Field Director for the McCain-Palin campaign.  Recently out of college, Melinda's clear enthusiasm for her work energized the office.  She had become a McCain supporter after watching the YouTube debates during the Republican primary.   "I was really passionate about McCain, his stance against torture, the way he stood up for what he believed in," she said.   As we left, the callers shifted their focus from Virginia to Colorado, where polls would still be open for another couple of hours.