By Charles Cadwallader

AUSTIN - What does a petroleum engineer, a public relations executive, a media relations officer in the National Guard, a political science student at the University of Washington, and an assistant district attorney all have in common?

They are all volunteering in Texas for Obama.

The Obama campaign is drawing volunteers from dozens of states that have already cast their vote in the national primary season, hoping to end the election with the Democratic nomination for Senator Obama.

Governor Tim Kaine from Virginia understood what Texas means in the primary season this year when he said, “Texas will decide who the next President of the Unites States will be.”

The Petroleum Engineer

Uduak Ntuk is a petroleum engineer from Bakersfield, California who is in Austin, Texas volunteering for the Obama campaign.

Ntuk said that he first saw Obama during his campaign for the Illinois senate seat. Leaving his first encounter with Obama, now a Senator, Ntuk was inspired and said that he could identify with the Senator.

“I have a lot in common with Senator Obama, my father is from Africa, and my mother is white,” said Ntuk.

The first look may only be skin deep, but according to Ntuk it was Obama’s speech and message of hope that made him want to be a part of a movement for change.

He went back to West Texas Agricultural and Mechanical, where he was attending on a Football scholarship, and modeled a campaign for student government after the campaign he had seen in Illinois.

Obama had won, so did Ntuk.

Now Ntuk has followed Obama in three states, Nevada, California and now Texas, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get Obama the nomination.

The Public Relations Executive

Lawrence Talbot is a public relations executive from Los Angeles, California.

He took two days off of work and stepped off of a plane in Texas, laying over on his way home from a business trip in Florida, rolling his suitcase into a campaign center for Obama that he found on line.

Talbot said that he just stepped in and said that he wanted to help and that he has been sleeping in somebody’s house and he has yet to pay for a meal because the hospitality of the community and the volunteers has just been overwhelming.

“One day we got this call from a lady who said ‘Y’all hungry?’ and being volunteers we of course said yes,” said Talbot, “Half an hour later 30 pizzas showed up from a local pizza place, paid for by a woman in Wisconsin.”

Talbot will leave Monday and head back to work in Los Angeles, but he’ll have spent four days working on the Obama campaign in Texas.

The National Guardsman

Julio Barthson is a pubic media relations and marketing executive by profession and a member of the California National Guard, he has worked in Nevada and California and is now in Texas. .

“Texas must be the coup de grace,” Barthson said when asked why he was in Austin supporting Obama, “We can afford to go all the way to Puerto Rico, but we should end it here and now, for the good of the party.”

Barthson was adamant that no matter what happens in Ohio, the Obama victory in Texas must be so resounding as to force Hillary Clinton out of the race for the Democratic nomination. “The win here must be so compelling that it can’t be spun, we must send a message to all the red and purple states that this is about the United States, and that we are coming for them in November.”

“We can take Texas in the general election, we can take Missouri and Oklahoma is just too easy now.” Barthson said.

A bystander and fellow Obama supporter spoke up, “But the question is, can we take a Tennessee?”

“Yes we can,” said Barthson, confidently replying with a campaign slogan of the Obama campaign, “We’re going for Missouri, we’re going to take Tennessee, we’re going for it all … this is a 50-state strategy.”

The Political Science Student

Devin Hampton is a political science student at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

The first thing that Hampton told me about Obama was that it wasn’t a question of race that made him support the senator from Illinois.

“A lot of people assume I support Obama because I’m a black man myself, but that has nothing to do with it.” Hampton said, “The first time I saw him speak live, he inspired me and I thought ‘heaven forbid a politician actually inspires me’ because that’s the ideal candidate.”

Obama has the tools to be a leader, Hampton said, and that regardless of any deficiency some may thing he has, it’s not about knowing the policies and the answers, it’s about leading a country.

“You can know the perfectly right answer to every question that comes up,” Hampton said, “but if no one is listening to you, what’s the point of knowing the best policy?”

“Obama’s skills go way beyond politics, he has the skill to lead, he inspires people,” said Hampton.

Hampton decided to take a trip down to Texas and just find a place to help out. “I don’t know what I want to do [in Texas], but if I go down there and show up enough places and talk to enough people I may find a way I can help out,” said Hampton.

The suitcase Hampton had was pretty light he said, he packed a couple sets of clothes, his laptop, cell phone and a suit. “I’m going to a dinner engagement in Idaho, that’s what the suit is for,” he said, “I don’t need much else.”

The Assistant District Attorney

James Vicente is an assistant district attorney from Brooklyn, New York; he was a volunteer on the Kerry campaign and said he had made a lot of contacts related to campaigning while there.

“Hillary is the weaker candidate, Obama is the stronger,” said Vicente, explaining his strong belief in Obama’s candidacy.

He had been in Brooklyn, thinking about volunteering for the Obama campaign when he decided to just go do it.

“It was in my head that I should come down,” said Vicente, “and a friend asked ‘do you want to go to Texas?’” So now he is in Austin doing whatever he can for the Obama campaign.

Vicente was listening in as Seattle Politicore reporter spoke with Lawrence Talbot from LA when Talbot described the 30 pizzas story. “I think I read something about that on Daily Kos,” he said, “someone asked how to help the campaign and a reply was that the volunteers need food.”