Kayla is a 20-year-old student and evangelical Christian who credits Barack for her newfound interest in the political process. Tonight, she will join Barack backstage before his acceptance speech.
"As a Christian, I have seen it repeated that evangelical Christians are 'required' to vote Republican. When I heard Barack's 'Call to Renewal' speech, I was surprised... This is change I can believe in and many other young, evangelical Christians can believe in, too. For the first time in my life, I got hooked on politics."
She now plans to register to vote so that she can cast her ballot for Barack in November. Among Kayla's top concerns are health care, teacher pay, and the environment. In an effort to convince her mom to become involved in politics, she has brought her to Denver.
Kayla was covered in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, as well as the Rocky Mountain News. Read the articles here and here.
John Volkmar of Boulder, Colorado will be among the ten lucky supporters selected to be backstage with Barack tonight. John served in the U.S. Army for 10 years. He says his two tours in Iraq with the 10th Special Forces Group opened his eyes to "the link between our country's lack of an effective energy policy and our flawed foreign policy."
John believes changing this relationship is an essential step towards ensuring that our government works for the interest of the American people instead of special interest groups. He is now pursuing an MBA and hopes to work in the alternative energy industry. John's wife is with him in Denver.
John has been featured in two local news articles. Read about him here in the Rocky Mountain News, or here from KXRM-TV.
Tonight, Holly Miowak Stebing of Anchorage, Alaska will be with Barack backstage. Holly, a 20-year-old Alaska Native Inupiaq, is spending her summer break from Stanford University at the First Alaskans Organization interviewing native elders about their experiences with segregation.
Holly is passionate about improving healthcare access for Native Americans, and protecting Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling.
The 2008 presidential election is Holly's first as a voter. She says:
"This was the first campaign I felt I needed to support. I don't have a lot of money, but I donate what I can because I believe in [Barack]."
She will attend the convention with her mother, who is the first Native American woman to pass the Alaska bar.
One of ten supporters selected to go backstage with Barack tonight, Marsha Shearer is a retired elementary school principal. She has phonebanked and canvassed for Obama in Florida, and has been a supporter since even before Barack made the decision to run. Marsha believes that both the Iraq War and America's dependence on oil are negatively affecting the health of our economy. She supports Barack because he is not a typical politician.
"He represents something above and beyond," she says. "I haven't felt so energized since McCarthy, trying to end the Vietnam War."
She has brought her college-age granddaughter to the convention.
Check out this video about Marsha and her support for Barack:
Anne Rector of Indianapolis, Indiana will be backstage with Barack tonight. Anne is a retired budget analyst for the federal government. She says the first time she saw Barack at the 2004 convention, she thought, "This is Everyman. He is Kansan and he is Kenyan; he is African and he is Anglo-American; he is common sense and he is eloquence; he is dynamic and he is down to earth."
Anne is an active volunteer for the campaign, as well as for a local animal protection group. She hosts a weekly local radio program named Art and Review, in which she reads to the blind. Anne strongly believes in the protection of our civil liberties. She will attend with a friend and fellow campaign supporter.
Tonight, Barb Sackman of Fallon Montana will join Barack backstage as he accepts the nomination. Barb is a teacher living in a small town of 150. She lives on her family's wheat and cattle farm, and rising fuel prices are making it hard to get by. She hopes Barack's plan for alternative bio-fuels will help the struggling economy in rural Montana.
Barb volunteers for her church, sits on a hospital board, and organizes community events in Fallon. Barb says Barack "genuinely cares about the problems of people like me. We appreciate his continued trips to Montana to let us know that we are not forgotten." She is attending the convention with her husband.
Check out this post about Barb on the Montana blog, or this local news story from CBS’s Montana stations. She was also mentioned in this article from the Rocky Mountain News.
Joining Barack backstage tonight will be Eric Melder. Eric is a 59-year-old married father of three sons and a grandparent to seven grandchildren. A retired YMCA director, he has worked at Diakon Wilderness Center for the past 13 years counseling young men with drug, alcohol, and family problems.
"The boys call me 'E-rock' and I do all I can to make a difference in their lives," writes Eric.
A self-proclaimed "values voter" and evangelical Christian, Eric switched his allegiance from Mike Huckabee to Barack, convinced by Barack's ability to lead and build coalitions. Eric has brought Anthony, a former student at the Wilderness Center, who overcame immense hardships, including an absent father and a drug-addicted mother, to ultimately become Program Director of the Center.
"Barack needs to meet him," Eric says.
The Pennsylvania blog wrote about Eric's selection to meet Barack backstage; read more about it here. MSNBC's First Read also wrote a feature on Eric, which you can check out here.
