SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - American citizens living in Yellowknife took to the bridge last weekend to show their support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Roughly 12 members of the NWT chapter of Democrats Abroad showed up at the Yellowknife River bridge Sunday afternoon, clad in "Obama '08" T-shirts and waving "Yes We Can" posters for cars as they passed.

The group was there to encourage other Yellowknife residents who are U.S. citizens to vote in that country's presidential election this November. Similar "Bridges for Obama" campaigns are underway by Democrats all over the world.

NWT chapter chair Joyce Rabesca, a dual citizen originally from Ohio, said she came to Canada 39 years ago, disillusioned with American politics after the assassinations of JFK, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and decided to stay out of politics - until the Iraq war began in 2003. Rabesca said she was "absolutely inspired" to return to political lobbying "by the Iraq war and insatiable thirst for oil."

She now wants to ensure more American Democrats register to vote for Obama by going to the Democrats Abroad website.

"My objective is to get people involved," Rabesca said. "Pull them out of the wood work."

As for Obama, she described his "authenticity, innocence and honesty" as appealing leadership characteristics.

"His multi-ethnic background, I think, is very important," she said.

Debbie DeLancey from Syracuse, New York agreed.

"I grew up during the civil rights movement and seeing the change in American society. Not just a black president but one whose middle name is Arabic could open doors to foreign countries," said DeLancey, who describes herself as an expatriate American.

Voting in the presidential election is a way for American citizens who live in Canada to have some control over the political landscape in their native country, especially since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the Iraq war, said Ben Webber, a Yellowknife resident from Baytown, Texas.

"Many of us grew up being proud of being American, but in the last eight years it's been a challenge."