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DU student stumps for Obama

Eric Spengler is one active supporter of Barack Obama — emphasis on active.

In May 2007, Spengler was named state director of Students for Barack Obama (SFBO) in Colorado, where he enlisted 3,200 students to support the campaign.

But the DU student says he’s been interested in politics for a lot longer. Spengler was 15 when politics first grabbed his attention during the disputed 2000 presidential election.

“I remember staying up late to watch coverage of the recount,” says Spengler, who’ll earn his degree from the University of Denver in June with a double major in political science and French. “I’d give my parents a report each morning at breakfast.”

And ever since, Spengler and politics have been tight. “I find politics to be a bit of an addiction,” he admits. “The more you know about current affairs, the more enticing the news becomes.”

As a freshman at Denison University in Ohio (he transferred to the University of Denver in his junior year) he started the Denison Democrats. And as a sophomore, he arranged for former presidential candidate Howard Dean to speak at Denison.

But today, Spengler is all about Barack Obama.

“I like him because he breaks the mold of the traditional politician,” Spengler says. “I believe it’s time for a new generation of leaders in Washington. After all, a Bush or a Clinton has been either vice president or president without interruption since before I was born.”

Spengler’s not new to the Obama camp. He started liking Obama when he heard him speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Spengler also helped book Obama’s stop at Magness Arena, where he introduced Obama to an over-flowing audience in January.

“Eric was one of the most active and capable students I have met on the campaign trail in the last year,” says Ray Rivera, who heads up Obama for America in Denver. “He’s a prime example of the type of person, young or old, that Barack is inspiring to get involved in presidential politics for the first time.”

Not surprisingly, Spengler predicts Senator Obama will win with “a slim, but decisive majority” of the delegates over Senator Hillary Clinton.

Spengler has even met Obama: “I shook his hand when he came to Denver. And yes, I have washed it since.”

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