David is only 19, but you wouldn't know it from the length of his resume. Growing up in Texas, he completed over 2,300 hours of community service. He was involved with the Dean and Kerry campaigns in 2004, knocking on doors and making phonecalls from local offices. He later interned for Congressman Lloyd Doggett before moving to Connecticut for school.
It was in Connecticut that David became involved in our campaign through a youth organization called Obama Works, which does community service as they help to spread Barack Obama's message of real change.
On my first trip with Obama Works, we went to a neighborhood and swept and cleaned up the streets. We really just did community service. We wanted to show that Barack Obama's message was one that people could be proud of.
Action is a big part of David's philosophy. He doesn't want to be dismissed because of his age or his politics. He wants people to see that Barack and the Democratic Party are bringing real change to America.
I think a lot of people look at college students like me and say, "It's great that you're getting excited about a candidate, but I have real problems. Gas prices, healthcare, food prices...do these people really understand my problems? Or do they just like him because he's charismatic?" We do understand. A lot of us have done community service and come from families with the exact same problems.
Part of the reason that David wanted to become a delegate was to dispel the notion that young supporters were just a bunch of tabloid-reading fans. It was on one of his clean sweeps with Obama Works that he made the decision.
When the first person said, 'I didn't know you guys really meant this and worked for it and had a stake in it,' that's when I decided to run.
David brought the same fervor to his campaign for delegate that he brought to volunteering -- going door to door to the homes of all the precinct electors.
That was touching because of the precinct allocation. I had to be in every single nook and cranny of Austin. I met with people who had lead the civil rights movement back in the 60s who had marched down the streets I was driving across for their right to vote. For them to then say, 'I want you -- a 19 year old white kid who goes to Yale -- I want you to be my voice,'... That's a very humbling feeling.
It's too late to become a national delegate like David, but it's not too late to empower yourself and help change America. Click here to sign up and volunteer with the campaign today.
With seven days to go until the Democratic National Convention, excitement is building in Denver and across America. Soon, delegates from all fifty states will convene in the Mile High City to cast their ballots for Barack Obama and witness his acceptance of the Democratic Party's nomination for president of the United States. As the convention approaches, we will follow these delegates and share stories of the grassroots supporters participating in this historic event.
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