You know those chills you get? The good kind, the moving kind? I'm talking about the type you get when something truly amazing happens in front of you and you feel lucky just to have witnessed it. Seeing a wedding proposal, an emotional underdog-victory on the basketball court, a movie that seems to hit home in all the right ways. Those kinds of chills.

They're back again.

Political ones. Now before you think I'm waxing poetic for no reason and it's silly to think what we witness in an epic battle between two men fighting it out for the White House might qualify as entertainment but is hardly "chill worthy" let me explain a bit.

The first one came this summer when Barack Obama effectively sealed up the nomination. Hillary Clinton had leaked out that she'd be officially dropping out and sending her support to Obama. The young U.S. Senator made his way to Nissan Pavilion for what could well be described as part victory party, part rally, part kick-off to the general election. Bear with me here, regardless of your political affiliation. My point is this:

As I stood on the media risers, watching Obama walk out hand-in-hand with Sen. Jim Webb and Governor Tim Kaine…the music of U2 blaring and the audience of some 20-thousand people reacting as if it were Bono himself and NOT a man from Capitol Hill…I saw something amazing. Reporters are often told (for example when covering a blazing house fire) that to see the real story, look behind you. In other words, the faces of those affected and their reactions. The flames are merely a distraction to the reality of the event you're witnessing. On this particular day, that adage held true.

I looked back at the crowd, most of which had waited for several hours in a sweltering heat, to see Senator Obama and their faces were filled with a look you don't see too often in life. It was one of belief and hope and conviction...and they hung on his every word. I watched a man who looked as if he just walked off a construction site and he stood, unwavering, holding an 'Obama' sign in the air, and listened to each syllable spoken. That sign stayed in the air at least 10 minutes before he even switched hands. I watched an elderly woman who earlier told me she was just thankful to lived long enough to see this moment and I talked to a teen who said he wanted to witness history. It was, and still is when thinking about it, enough to elicit those chills. And all of them, were so caught up in a movement, and believed so deeply in it that there was a contagious sense of patriotism and duty and concern. Chills.

I wasn't quite sure I'd see them again before November 4th.

Then, a pleasant surprise.

Last week, I was covering the McCain-Palin rally in Fairfax city (once again, bear with me) and it happened again. Seriously. Now I've covered plenty of these over the years, and frankly didn't think the chills would be popping up at what are sometimes let's just say, the "less lively", McCain events. After all, they hadn't at any of his other events I'd attended…not even at the Republican National Convention and I certainly didn't expect them in this field.

Wow, was I wrong.

Granted the excitement could be strongly but not solely attributed to Sarah Palin's first appearance in the commonwealth….but it was electric indeed. I watched a young mother, her child in the stroller next to her, physically jumping up and down when the GOP's duo stepped onto stage. I heard from a lovely lady named Marion Tusing who was at a John F. Kennedy rally more than forty years ago in Alexandria say "I think this is more exciting and more historic. I'm sorry but I really do!" And I listened to a mother of two young children start to choke up and her voice shake when she told me her attraction to Palin (and now the McCain ticket) was because she could relate to Palin as a parent.

Suddenly there they were again! Those chills. They sneaked up on me and ran down my back and I fought back a smile so as not to appear partisan. They were the same chills I felt on that hot summer day in Bristow.

The truth is I felt lucky. Fortunate not only to follow the two campaigns in person, but to experience the chills on both fronts. There is something utterly moving about watching people care so deeply, want so badly and not hold back one iota. It IS what we are supposed to feel not just at sporting events, but about our country. And believe me when I say I'm not exaggerating, it's worth more than a couple of tickets to any sporting event.

So I'll sum it up by saying this. If you get a chance, and there are still plenty to be had, to go to one of these rallies…to hear the music, to sense the growing anticipation of the candidates appearance on stage, and to get caught up in the moment of wanting something better for your country and your children…go. It doesn't really matter which one you go to, or for which candidate, the cloud of excitement fills both of them, and those CHILLS aren't far behind.