"I'm all in"

If you've ever seen people playing poker in the movies or on TV, one thing is certain: at the climactic moment in the scene, one of the players will utter the words "I'm all in".

I'm all in. I leave nothing behind. This is do-or-die.

Today I got an e-mail from the Obama campaign, telling me that McCain is going to try to out-spend Obama in these last days of the campaign by ten million dollars. Here's part of the e-mail:

No matter what, we need to match what our opponents are spending in the final stretch. We can't slow down between now and Election Day. Our records show that you're one of our most generous supporters, and that you're at most $X,XXX [ed: sorry folks, that's private. Look it up on the FEC website if you're so curious] from your contribution limit. There's no better time to go All-In for Barack. And if you give again today, you could be one of 5 previous donors who will have a front row seat for the big Election Night event in Chicago with Barack. Can you go All-In for Barack with a donation of $X,XXX right now?

Well, I already have plans for election night (I'll be at Darcy Burner's return-watch party), but that aside, I hate to disappoint the Obama campaign by saying no. I can't, in fact, go All-in for Barack. At least, not with money.

You see, several months ago, before we had a presidential nominee or even a front-runner in the Democratic race, I quit my job to start a business. That's kind of an "all-in" move right there. I did it because I'm betting that I can build something better for my family than I'll ever find working for someone else.

So I spent the next seven months working my butt off to get my business going. If you've ever heard anyone say "you'll never work so hard as when you start your own business," believe them. It's true. If anything, it's an understatement.

But businesses take time to ramp up. It takes time before they can pay their own way, let alone pay my family's bills and the bills of my business partners' families. So after seven months when my checkbook started to run dry, I went out to look for other work to fill the gap.

I was lucky. I have an unusual combination of skills that parts of the software industry find useful. I had the good fortune to network with some former colleagues at the right time. And I landed a pretty good job putting my skills to work.

But it's a young company. It's still growing, and not really on its own feet yet. Its founders are all-in too. And with the economic crisis and the Dow losing a third of its value in the past few months (thank you, Phil Gramm, John McCain, and Ronald Reagan for all that great deregulation), the venture capitalists who were supposed to get us through the next couple of years got scared. Money gone. Poof. 40% layoff across the company. Friends, co-workers, just gone. No warning. No recourse.

But I was lucky. I have an unusual combination of skills, so I didn't get laid off. I'm only working three days a week, and at a reduced salary. But at least I'm working. I'm one of the lucky ones.

So no, I can't go All-in for Obama right now. You see, I'm already all-in. Not only am I betting that someday my own business will turn into something great, but I'm also betting that Obama is going to win this election. I'm betting that enough honest men and women are going to win House and Senate races across this land on Tuesday to give him the legislative support he'll need to fix this country.

I'm betting that Obama really is going to re-structure the tax code such that a small business like mine gets to ride a slightly smoother rail, too. I'm betting that he's going to do something about health care, such that a small businessman can afford to provide health care to his family.

I'm betting that Obama, with the help of folks like Darcy Burner, is going to change the rules of the game--re-level them for everyone in the middle class: entrepreneurs like me, Boeing machinsts, nurses, teachers, everyone. I don't want a handout, I just want to be playing a fair game. But ever since Reagan, the Republicans have been dealing from the bottom of the deck. And in the past 8 years, they've been dealing from the bottom of a stacked deck. That has to stop, and I'm betting this year's crop of Democratic candidates, from Obama on down, are the ones to do it.

It's a pretty big bet. I've anted up my dreams and my family's future. I'm already All-in for Obama, and for Burner, and for Gregoire. I'm all-in for Scott Kleeb in Nebraska, for Jeff Merkley in Oregon, for Bob Lord down in my birth state of Arizona, and every House candidate who has endorsed the Responsible Plan. I'm all-in for the hundreds of genuinely patriotic candidates across America who have put their lives on hold for the chance to serve their fellow countrymen. These are smart, brave, decent folks, every one of them from the top of the ticket down to the bottom.

I'm betting they've got some mighty good cards to play, and that when they do, we'll all win.