First On the Whistle-Stop Tour: Massachusetts

— -- Greetings from aboard the "Good Morning America" "Whistle-Stop Tour '08," a splendid 11-car train specially designed to broadcast live television starting Monday.

(We're technically not moving yet -- rehearsals and other preparations are in order to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.)

ABC is starting its "50 States in 50 Days" tour leading up to the 2008 election in the state where, in a sense, the last election ended: Massachusetts, Sen. John Kerry's home state, where he delivered his (slightly delayed) concession speech the morning after Election Day 2004.

But for those who would mock Massachusetts as outside of "real America" (as the Republicans sought to argue four years ago), know that we're far from Boston -- in the beautiful Berkshires, on the other side of the state.

We are, at this moment, perched beside lake at the foot for a mountain, next to the historic train station in Lenox.