Comic books have long been the stuff of fantasy.They have provided an escape into a world where evil gets punished and the good guy always wins. In recent years, comic books started to tackle social issues and give voice to situations that had long gone unnoticed.  Batman and Superman helped teach children about the danger of landmines and the Green Lantern and Spiderman tackled drug abuse.

President Barack Obama has been a comic book fan, so it only seems fitting that former Obama campaign staffers would be involved in a training exercise that helps them learn more about harnessing the power of social media networking, using comic book superheroes.

Barack Obama is going to Ghana this weekend and, while he will not be going to Kenya, his social media grassroot campaign style will the subject that a native son of Kenya, Andrew Mwavua (a former Obama staffer from Missouri who was born and raised in Kenya) will be learning at a an all-expenses paid course. The program involves cutting-edge online organizing techniques including writing effective emails, engaging bloggers, leveraging social networks, utilizing video. They use political technology (e.g. using data effectively, progressive technology infrastructure), and the intersection with field and management of these areas of new organizing.

Mwavua’s team’s job is to get the Green Lantern elected as Mayor of DC in a mock Mayoral campaign where several superheroes are campaigning.The competition between staffers is really innovative, harnessing the collective talents of the former staffers in groups, and helping them learn how to run a real campaign as they demonstrate what they’re learning.

You can join in the fun by:

1.      Going to the campaign website

2.      Signing up, and then

3.      Sharing the link with at least 3 or more of your friends.

The election will be online this Friday, July 10^th from 7am till 6pm EST only.

With only about 24 hours to go, he needs your help!  We need you to support the Green Lantern in his quest to illuminate D.C It’s a fun, easy way to learn about the election process via social media, and help a fellow African win the challenge.  Have a great time.