Bermudian law student Alexa Lightbourne had her chance to influence world affairs this summer when she interned with the Obama presidential campaign in Florida.Miss Lightbourne is entering her last year of law school at the University of Westminster in London where she is working towards a law degree.She is a former Miss Teen Bermuda pageant winner.“I am someone who likes to keep busy,” she said. “During my summer I like to fill it with things that are productive or things I enjoy.“I helped with the organisation of the Bebe and Ce Ce Winans concert in Bermuda two years ago and then last year I was helping to organise a gospel festival.“This year I thought I wanted to do something that was low key but would help me with where I am going to go in the future.”She applied for an Obama campaign internship, a position that is highly sought after. Only six interns are accepted for each American state.“I am not American,” she said. “It is a predominantly American programme but that wasn’t a prerequisite. To get in you had to answer different questions.“Some of the questions were about how you would manage campaign crowds or deal with certain situations. I had no prior campaign experience, but my answers dealt with time management and delegation.”Her initial hope was to work on the campaign in California as she had always wanted to visit the state.She decided on Florida after discovering Obama’s California campaign was a bit tame by comparison.“I decided I wanted to go with a battleground state,” said Miss Lightbourne. “East Broward, Florida was the area I was in. Broward has the power of swinging the entire state of Florida so it was really like a crucial battleground area.”Tasks included voter registration, canvasing and organising and managing neighbourhood Obama campaign teams.“Every week we had a certain amount of voter registration to do,” she said. “We had different stations in our area and we would go and get people to register.“It sounds super easy, but it was really difficult, because you have people that really want to talk to you about why President Obama hasn’t done a great job. It involved a bit of persuasion.“Managing teams might involve making sure they had enough women involved in the Women for Obama programme.“This was one of the interest groups I took a keen interest in. I would organiser their house parties and I would do the presentations for the house parties, or training.”She narrowly missed out on meeting President Obama himself. He visited the very weekend she had to return to Bermuda for a brief visit.She was, however, able to meet Michelle Obama and shake her hand.She also met Democratic party chairman Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz and several celebrity Obama supporters.“It was exciting to just be a part of the campaign and make a difference, even though, ironically, the Democrats accused (Republican candidate) Mitt Romney of having funds in Bermuda. So it was interesting being a Bermudian supporting the Democratic party.”She said the hardest thing was persuading voters when, as a Bermudian, she had no vested interest in who became the next US President.“I lived in Arizona for six years when I was a child, so I did live the American experience,” she said. “On a global scheme I was happy to see that grassroots movement firsthand.“I saw what it means to reach out to voters. I was able to touch the lives of 2,000 voters. In 2000, the election in Florida was decided by 537 votes, giving George W Bush the presidency over Al Gore.“One field organiser can make the difference in an election. I impacted almost three times that amount of voters.“For that, I felt like I was really part of a movement and a family. Not every single day was an easy day, but I enjoyed every part of it.”After her law degree she hopes to do a master’s degree in business. She enjoys public law and is hoping to do something along those lines.“There are a couple of jobs I have been looking at internationally,” she said. “I was actually offered a job on the Obama campaign but I can’t because I am still in school and I don’t have a work permit over there.“I was really happy about it. I felt honoured to be considered as one of the persons shortlisted for a job. Maybe one day I can go back under different circumstances.”