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Cincinnati woman inspired by her work as convention volunteer

Tina Bayne of Springfield Township thought earlier this year about running for one of the 1st Congressional delegate spots to the Democratic National Convention, but, as she said, she "chickened out."

"You had to go out and get people to vote for you,'' she said.

Instead she came to Charlotte this week as one of the thousands of volunteers who have been working in Time Warner Cable Arena, helping guide delegates around the building, checking credentials and making sure people could find their way around a crowded and often chaotic convention hall.

"It has been very exciting,'' said Bayne, who is a Democratic precinct executive in Springfield Township and an ardent volunteer for the Obama-Biden campaign back home. "To me, being a volunteer comes back to what Barack Obama has always said about his belief in public service and helping others."

Bayne and her mother, Barbara Kennedy, have been staying at the Drury Inn North in Charlotte, one of two Ohio delegation hotels.

Bayne said that when she gets back to Cincinnati, she wants to focus her volunteer work on reaching ex-felons in the community and getting them registered to vote.

"Once they have done their time, they can vote and a lot of them don't realize it,'' said Bayne, who said she is in her 40s.

She has already participated in an Obama-Biden effort in Cincinnati called "Impact 10,' where volunteers pledge to go out and register 10 new voters and urge them to vote during the early voting period which begins Oct. 2.

"I'm taking my convention volunteer shirt home to show all my friends,'' Bayne said. "I'm really proud to have been able to serve here."

Howard Wilkinson is in his 50th year of covering politics on the local, state and national levels.