by Larry Patrick
WALSENBURG- Move over Obama and McCain there’s a new candidate in the race and people in Europe are pushing for her. Hannah Jefferson (for those wanting a woman in the top spot) is from Rhode Island but spent several years in Europe. She and her European staff were in Walsenburg on Tuesday and stopped at the Huerfano Journal and at Mike’s Coffee Barn. They held a wine and cheese tasting later at Heritage Park.
A European Union with representatives from France, Germany, Austria and other European nations are not happy with the U.S. leadership the past 8 years and have formed this party to try and change things in this country. They are headed for the Democratic National Convention in Denver with hopes of getting some recognition for their candidate and platform.
Thomas Altheimer is heading up the European delegation of 6 people. They are traveling with Jefferson (no known relation to Thomas Jefferson) across the country to drum up support for her candidacy. Basically they want to change many things done in the U.S. to the European way, which they feel is more efficient. That includes changing the health care system, which everyone agrees needs fixing in America. They also want to change the government to a more European parlimentary style and wants to have the media be mostly state run as is the case in many nations in Europe.
The E.U. would also like the see the U.S. take a more active interest in alternative energy practices, like wind and solar. This group has met with political advisors in the U.S. to get advice on getting their word out to the people. So they have been traveling from California to Colorado. Jefferson says she is politically aware and was a bit taken aback when she was asked to run for President of the U.S. She would like to see this country take a broader perspective on issues, particularly world events and work toward better cooperation with their European counterparts, which has suffered under the Bush administration.
There is some turmoil within the group. Ms. Jefferson would like to name Hilliary Clinton as her Vice-President while Altheimer favors Rudy Guliani. Hilliary has yet to be approached and Guliani was still running for President when first asked.
They’re not on the ballot yet but you have to give them one thing. They felt Walsenburg was an important stop on their way to the presidency.
