WHEN presidential campaign fever swept through America and grabbed the attention of millions across the globe, three former Darlington students were closer to the action than most.

With support from Darlington MP Jenny Chapman, the opportunity of a lifetime was given to former Hummersknott School students Jack Madden, 23 and Grace Wright, 23, and former Carmel College student Lola McEvoy, 25, to join the Obama campaign trail as it reached fever pitch in Ohio.

The trio, who now all live in London, spent the self-funded trip supporting the Democrat campaign by door-knocking to encourage people to vote for the Democrat candidate.

They worked on a rally in Columbus where Jay Z and Bruce Springsteen performed onstage to ‘warm up’ the crowd for Obama and Mr Madden, who works with Miss Wright for Mrs Chapman in Westminster, said: “Overall it was a phenomenal week, and we learned so much.

“I doubt I’ll ever experience anything quite like it again, and I’m glad that through my involvement working for Jenny we got the chance to take part in something incredible that really did change the direction of the world for the next four years.”

Miss McEvoy, whose family home is in Linden Ave, Darlington, used to work for Mrs Chapman and now works as a campaign organiser for Thurrock Labour Party.

She described the American experience as “amazing” and said: “Everywhere we went we got a really warm reception and people were absolutely enthused that somebody had come over from Britain to help.”

All three were obviously delighted with the outcome as Obama won four more years in the White House on November 7 after a closely fought contest with Republican Mitt Romney.