Today's mid-term election is a pivotal race to the finish, and no one is under more pressure than President Barack Obama.

Calling into radio shows all over the country from Las Vegas to Chicago, he reminded listeners that though he's not on the ballot, his agenda is.

The President remarked, "I know things are still tough out there, but we finally have job growth again ... It is all at risk if people don't turn out and vote today. Are we [going to take] the steps now to move us in the right direction, or are we going to go back to the policies that got us into that mess in the first place?"

In a renewal of the whirlwind courtship of African-Americans and young people who were so instrumental to his 2008 historic election, he reiterated that he needs everyone engaged, motivated, and focused. "I just want to make sure that everybody who's listening understands we need that same enthusiasm and interest on the part of young people in 2010," he said.

In intensely deadlocked elections across the country, none will prove more indicative of national sentiment than Nevada. During the presidential caucuses there is a saying, "As goes Iowa, so goes the nation." During this contentious mid-term election, the same could very well hold true for the state with the highest unemployment rate.

It has been extremely close in the Nevada polls between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Tea Party backed candidate Sharron Angle. She has already implied that with their continued support, she will push the movement's capitalist, border-line separatist agenda to GOP leaders if she wins the election.

President Obama stressed the importance of progressive liberal Reid winning re-election."Harry Reid has been my partner," Obama said. "Every poll shows the race between Harry Reid and his opponent neck and neck. We know that if people who voted in 2008 turn out to vote in 2010, Harry will win. If they don't turn out, he will lose."

In the Republican "Pledge To America" unveiled September 22nd, the "Party of No" was very aggressive in criticizing the Obama administration, Congress and the judiciary as well as taking subtle jabs at religious tolerance and marriage rights for gay couples.

It is not a secret -- we are facing the dismantling of anything resembling progress and equality in this country, and Obama paints a picture of a very bleak America if control shifts again.

"[Republicans] will want to dictate the terms of legislation and try to roll back health care and financial market overhauls. "The future is yours to shape," he said. "But if you don't get involved, then somebody else is going to shape it for you."

The time is now. Did we really vote for Obama because we thought he was "cool"? Was it because we thought the first African-American president would make it his sole purpose to move us from the back of the bus?

Were our critics correct?

Today, we must prove that we do not vote for "change" only out of pride and a sense of poetic justice, but because we understand the catastrophic ramifications if we do not.

***Obama announced a post-election news conference for 1 p.m. Wednesday in the White House East Room.***