You commented on the national election, local races, and controversial initiatives, to name a few. Click on the faces below to read comments from your community.

Wondering how El Cerrito’s election perspectives compared with those of neighboring communities? Be sure to check out related projects on our sister sites: OaklandNorth and MissionLocal.

BY N’JERI EATON //

On the final day of the election, dozens of volunteers gathered at the West Contra Costa Unified Campaign office for one last push for Obama.

After eight hours, team leader Rick Guerrero announced that their efforts resulted in over 8,000 phone calls today.  “Just two weeks ago, we were happy with 3,000 calls in a weekend,” said Guerrero.

Juanita Vaughns brought two highly-motivated volunteers to the office: her 10-year-old grandson Jared and his friend Camellia. Vaughns has noticed her grandson’s fascination with the presidential election. This past Friday, Jared even dressed as Barack Obama for Halloween, wearing a suit and an array of buttons.  “They know so much about what’s going on,” said Vaughns. “I can’t say that I was doing this at 10.”

Watch the slideshow below of Jared and Camellia calling for Obama.

BY MATT DURNING //

The evangelical church community is widely regarded as one of America’s most powerful and reliable voting blocks. Over the past two presidential elections, they have played an integral role in the election and re-election of George W. Bush. In November 2004, Bush won 78 percent of evangelical voters nationally.

This year, however, opinion research has shown a shift in support among young evangelicals away from the Republican candidate, John McCain,and toward Barack Obama.

According to a September 2008 survey conducted for PBS’s Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research Inc, McCain currently has the support of 71 percent of white evangelicals, but only 62 percent of young white evangelicals between the ages of 18 and 29.

Perhaps more significant, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that while a majority of young white evangelicals describe themselves as conservative on social issues, slightly more identified this year as either independents or Democrats than as Republicans.

Recently, El Cerrito Focus reporter Matt Durning visited the Trinity Evangelical Free Church in El Cerrito to find out how young evangelicals in your community are feeling about the upcoming election. The result? A wide diversity of opinion on everything from same-sex marriage to Sarah Palin to U.S. foreign policy.

Click below to hear audio interviews with five of Trinity’s young evangelical members and their pastor.

AKI SUGAWARA, 29

REBECCA OLSON, 26

DEAN SAMUELS, 30

DARRELL OLSON, 30

DARIUS BARNES, 25

TOM JOHNSTON, PASTOR

BY ALEXIA UNDERWOOD & DANIEL MCGLYNN //

On October 2, the long-awaited debate between vice-presidential candidates Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin took place at Washington University in Saint Louis. In El Cerrito, a politically charged crowd gathered at the Cerrito Theater to watch the internationally televised event.

Politics mixed with popcorn and viewers got a chance to see how the Democratic and Republican running mates stacked up against each other.

The El Cerrito Focus caught up with some viewers to get their thoughts on how the vice-presidential candidates performed. Just like the presidential debates, the event was free, and required waiting in a long line to get in. Once inside, the crowd booed, whistled, laughed, and even yelled at the screen as the candidates worked their way through an evening of domestic issues, financial woes and foreign policy.

In this video, you can see for yourself what some members of the audience had to say.