London Met alumna helps win votes!
4th November 2008
Today Democratic Senator Barack Obama has been elected the first black president of the United States.
'It's been a long time coming, but tonight... change has come to America,' the president-elect told a jubilant crowd at a victory rally in Chicago.
Running in opposition to Obama was Republican candidate John McCain, a 72 year-old American Navy veteran. He had been falling behind Obama in the polls over the past few weeks.
Helping Obama to win over votes was London Metropolitan University alumna Ashley Elizabeth Ball, who worked as part of his campaign team. Ashley graduated in 2007 with a BA American Studies and International Relations. Within a year she had joined the forefront of the impressive election campaign.
Ashley became involved in the campaign through her own initiative. She wrote to Obama’s campaign team and offered to be a volunteer. She began last year by knocking on doors and then quickly rose through the ranks. As Regional Field Director she co-ordinated a team of volunteers to promote Obama.
Dr Andrew Moran, Course Leader for International Relations, taught Ashley when she was studying at London Met. He said: ‘Ashley was always a dedicated student, interested in all things American. It's great to see her so actively involved in the political field and her efforts rewarded in terms of the responsibilities she has been given in the Obama campaign. She represents everything that is good about this university and the students we recruit.’
Following the election results, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown said: 'Barack Obama ran an inspirational campaign, energising politics with his progressive values and his vision for the future.'
During the campaign Obama said that he was eager for America to lead the way in the global effort to tackle climate change. His election pledge included aiming to slash America’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the year 2050, as well as investing $150 billion over 10 years into clean energy. Obama was against the war in Iraq and has said that on winning he will pull out all the American troops within 16 months.
Obama will now wait until 20 January 2009 before he officially takes over from President George Bush, in a process called inauguration.