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Posted September 30, 2008 | 10:29 AM (EST) The Huffington Post
Læs hele artiklen på http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jean-vickers/in-tucson-diversity-marks_b_130529.html
In Tucson, Diversity Marks Congressman's Debate Watch Party
. Soren Frederik Bregenov is a young Danish Political Science PhD student from the University of Copenhagen. His PhD concentration is on international campaigns. He first worked in Representative Grijalva's Washington DC office and has been in Tucson for the past three weeks working on the grassroots campaign for both Grijalva and Obama. Soren spends every weekend door-to-door canvassing Independents, Democrats and Green Party voters. On Sundays he canvasses in Nogales, a border town where most voters he encounters are native Spanish speakers. He sees the campaign process here as one where volunteers come forward not just to work for candidates who espouse their cause, but they also are working for issues that affect others more than themselves. In Denmark, Soren says, the political concerns are more regional and organized around groups that only work on their own issues, however national taxes and also an effort of the current leaders in Denmark to move a universal healthcare system closer to an individual market based one are of deep concern to Danish voters. He gets a mostly positive response when canvassing, but he says voters are sometimes confused by why someone from so far away would care about the Democratic campaign here. In Representative Grijalva's office on this first debate night, a small cross section of America was represented by about 60 people who have come together in a common purpose, to get one man elected and another re-elected. The experiences and immediate local and regional concerns of the people in the room last Friday are diverse and close to their hearts. They share a belief that their efforts in this campaign are meaningful and will result in the change they passionately desire. Hope is more than a campaign slogan. Hope is what propels these voters to put their lives on hold while they devote countless hours to bring about a change they really do believe in.
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