Budma!

What an amazing story this Ukrainian election has been!

Several years ago, I had the privilege to visit Ukraine and teach a political communications course to women's organizations in Kiev and Donetsk. We talk an awful lot about freedom over here, but to actually describe it to a group of people who have never quite experienced it......well, it becomes more than a word.

In every restaurant, there was a little kiosk near the entrance with a tough, military looking fellow slouched in a chair, watching all that went on. Apparently, the Russian mafia had basically co-opted whatever private enterprise that bloomed there.

In the nicest hotel in Kiev, there was a hall monitor on every floor to give you the key to your room when you arrived and drop off the key when you leave. As you can imagine, the stern, life-hardened women looked like something out of central casting.

And poverty? You've never seen poverty like this.

One woman who clearly suffered from some sort of elephantitis could only lean up against a building and moan, her unbelievably swollen legs dwarfing her body. Feet unrecognizable but for a couple of buds on the ends that must have been toes.

A young girl, no more than five or six years old, played her battered violin in the Kiev streets long past midnight, with such untrained talent that it took everything not to scoop her up and embrace her all the way to Julliard to nurture her God-given gift. I gave her five American dollars -- enough in Kiev to support a family for a month -- and she ran off with her treasure, tears in her eyes.

The trip truly moved me and I met many good friends that I still keep in touch with today.

One I wish I had met was Kathy Yushchenko -- the new first lady of Ukraine. I had received her name and contact information from my good friend Grover Norquist before I left for Kiev -- just as an emergency contact. Should have gotten in touch with her. She seems like an extraordinary woman, dedicated to her husband, the principles of freedom and democracy and her native Ukraine.

God bless her and her husband in their new journey.