Soldier's Sister Sends Gut Wrenching Letter in Support of Dem Canidate Duckworth

Every now and then amid the stilted talking-points, choreographed events and airless speeches that are the stuff of modern political campaigns you get a moment of genuine, wrenching emotion. Such a moment came the other day in Illinois' sixth, where Dem vet double-amputee Tammy Duckworth is battling GOPer Peter Roskam. At an event where Duckworth was speaking, a woman stood to share with Duckworth and the audience her thoughts about her brother, a soldier who's heading out for a second tour in Iraq. As the woman describes it, she was quickly overwhelmed with emotion and broke down and cried. Duckworth made her way over to the woman on her artificial legs and gave her a hug.

The woman, a volunteer for Duckworth who's gotten more involved in the campaign since the event, has now written an emotional letter about the experience which has been emailed out into the district by the Duckworth campaign. And it's well worth a read, because it demonstrates a fact about this election that's been sorely neglected: The war in Iraq is more than something which can be magically transformed into a "winner" or a "loser" around "national security issues" with just the right "political positioning."