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President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid passed the critical economic stimulus bill with no Republican votes in the House, and only three Republican votes in the Senate. Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Senator Arlen Spector (now a Dem) of Pennsylvania, negotiated a $120 billion cut in the stimulus before giving their votes, and projected stimulus-related job growth dropped from 4 to 3.5 million. This is still a signal victory and reflection of last year's great accomplishments - the economic stimulus glass is much more than half full, although the challenges are tremendous.

Looking ahead, achieving health care reform and reversing our global climate crisis will be huge struggles. Will Senator Olympia Snowe be on board for health care reform? Will any other Republicans? The media is so compromised by the Republican noise machine that a fanatical right-wing fringe provides their "balance" when reporting the news, and "birthers" and "death panels" are prominent in the public eye.

Last year's brilliant Obama for America (OFA) campaign has been recast as Organizing for America (OFA), growing within the structure of the Democratic National Committee. It should be a major force keeping last year's winning national volunteer force going, supporting President Obama's platform and work. Clearly there's a continuing need for local organizing to help carry national issues.

Looking ahead to 2010's mid-term elections, where the party in power typically loses seats, we simply must hold and win more Senate seats. This will be a challenge, as FiveThirtyEight - Politics Done Right includes 8 Democratic seats in the top 15 Senate seats likely to change parties. It will take major grassroots efforts on both the issues and the Senate races to keep the Senate. We also can't take the House for granted, as there will be major challenges from Republicans. After examining all 435 House races for 2010, Larry Sabatos' Crystal Ball projects that Republicans will gain between 20 and 30 seats. The Cook Political Report election maps are not looking good either. The Republicans will go after Congressman Jerry Mcnerney (CA-11) again, and mount a major effort against Senator Barbara Boxer.

Building support for Obama's budget priorities, health care reform and climate change legislation, all part of the vision for change from the campaign, is essential. Let's keep it going!

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