Local elected to national Democratic post

By Staff
Jason Cannon, Franklin County Times
We're still about a year away from our next presidential election, but Russellville native Art Richey is working hard to make sure a Democrat is the top vote-getter.
Richey was elected chair of the Southern Caucus and Southern Regional Director last week at the College Democrats of America National Convention in Columbia, S.C.
In his role, Richey will be responsible for organizing Democratic campaign pushes in the southern states among college students.
"That could mean going door-to-door, to being prepared, for example, if Barack Obama made a campaign trip to Alabama," he said.
Richey added that he will also organize voter registration and student involvement campaigns at local and southern colleges.
In all, 15 Alabama college students attended the conference and were given the opportunity to exchange ideas and winning strategies with young people from across the country, hear from Democratic Party leaders about their vision for the future of our country and receive campaign training to use in upcoming elections.
While at the convention, the students were courted by several presidential campaigns and heard speeches from Senators Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama.
While Richey will be working with the Democratic Party as a whole, much of his effort will be put into making sure his peers and fellow Southerners are heard at the Capital.
"A lot of people at the national level consider Alabama a red state," Richey said referring to it's historically Republican vote in national elections. "That's not necessarily true, especially in Franklin County. What we want to do is to make sure that our voices are heard."
Alabama's delegation was one of the largest at the convention.
Other local delegates were Dakota Nichols , a student at Northwest-Shoals Community College and Christa Waldrop, a student at the University of North Alabama and native of Russellville.