Obama '83, Oxy Campaigners Set Sights on Feb. 5 Caucuses

January 10, 2008
Contact: Samantha B. Bonar, (323) 259-2534

With a dramatic victory in the South Carolina primary Jan. 26, Sen. Barack Obama ’83’s pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination shows no signs of slowing, and neither do Sara El-Amine ’07, Noah Glusenkamp ’07, and Brian McGrane ’06, three of the candidate’s dedicated campaign workers. The trio’s tireless work with the Obama campaign in Iowa  was detailed in an article in the winter 2008 issue of Occidental magazine.

As deputy field organizers, McGrane, El-Amine and Glusenkamp spent long hours going door-to-door discussing campaign issues and pitching their candidate in the weeks leading up to the Iowa caucus. "Mostly I feel satisfaction that I and my colleagues did our jobs and got our supporters out to the caucus in record numbers,” McGrane said. Obama won Iowa.
 
McGrane and Glusenkamp campaigned for Obama in Nevada, which was won by Hillary Clinton, and El-Amine is campaigning in Idaho, whose caucus is Feb. 5. “I love this passionately," El-Amine said. "It’s so edifying to be on a campaign with a crew of people who came on board, like me, out of the strength of our convictions.”

El-Amine, who will be campaigning in Idaho until the Feb. 5 caucus, encouraged supporters on campus to attend the Oxy for Obama Organizational Meeting sponsored by the Occidental College Chapter of Students for Barack Obama on Wednesday, Jan. 30.

“This campaign has done so many good things for me already that I plan to stay with it as long as I can,” McGrane said. “By now, it’s hard to imagine sitting on the sidelines, and a Barack Obama presidency is worth the 14-hour work days.”

Obama attended Occidental for two years before transferring to Columbia University, where he completed his undergraduate degree in 1983.