Ellen is a winner

Living in Michigan and all, I have had my share of bad political news. So I am very happy to report that on Aug. 5, Ellen Cogen Lipton handily won the primary race and, barring a mass exodus of Democrats from the 27th District, will be my new Rep. in the Michigan House come November. She's progressive, smart and really nice. She also loves dogs.

I first met Ellen at Motor City Pride where she had a booth set up to reach out to LGBT voters. Not only was she great to talk to, but she gave my dog Henri lots of love and attention (see picture). I proposed a story on her to Between The Lines and interviewing Ellen for the paper gave me an opportunity to talk to her again, which just made me like her all the more. The next time I saw her I was at her house volunteering for her campaign. I made a lot of phone calls that day then my wife and I rode our bikes distributing get out the vote reminders to likely voters in our Ferndale neighborhood. By the time we were done it was too dark to read the house numbers. The last few houses I literally had to go up and feel the numbers like Helen Keller.

The following evening I was at her victory party, and what a victory it was. In a five person race she nabbed over 50% of the vote.

While at the party, which was held at Ellen's sister-in-law's house, I noticed a poem displayed in the kitchen. The poem was written by Emma Brooke Kretchmer, Ellen's niece and an aspiring young writer from what I understand. Reading the poem made me super happy because not only did it celebrate Ellen, but it also was written by a young person who clearly has yet to learn to fear or mistrust poetry as so many adults do.

Lucky for me, I got Emma and Ellen's permission to post the poem here. So without further ado, here it is.

Vote for Ellen

Vote For Ellen, she will give, make her our state representative. Vote for Ellen, she has pride;
she will always be by your side. Vote for Ellen, she will take part, she has a big heart.
Vote for Ellen, She loves U.S.A. , Vote for Ellen today.
She has two kids, who care a lot, they want their mom to take that spot. She really cares, she loves
the stars and every stripe, she is the perfect type.
So what do you say, isn’t she great? Make her representative of our state.

(Emma Brooke Kretchmer, written for her Aunt Ellen Cogen Lipton, August 2008)

I think every campaign should have its own resident poet. :)