Campaigning

Over the past three years I have certianly done my fair share of campaigning and I am quite at home in a van full of campaign literature for days at a time. I think my personal count at this point is six states, and last weekend I had the chance to add the UK to that list as well. I travelled to Eastbourne to campaign with my MP for the upcoming election (tentatively scheduled for May 6th). Eastbourne itself was quite nice, every bit the coastal town I had been told to expect from my time in the office thus far.

What did take me by surprise was who was actually doing the canvassing. We met up with a group of about ten older members of the Conservative Party along with the local politicians and Nigel himself. Although the process is largely the same in the United States and the United Kingdom there is something about walking the streets with the official you are representing that is a rush. In the States the sheer size of Congressional districts precludes the candidates from physically canvassing the constituency. However the UK benefits from having districts that are 1/10th the size of an U.S. Congressional District and therefore politics has a decidely local feel to it.