For Eszter Horvath, with the Hungarian Socialist Party, the most impressive thing about American politics is the money.

Candidates in Hungary can spend only $4,000 trying to get elected. “We don’t have fundraisers,” she said during an interview Monday.

But that’s where the political parties, five of which hold seats in Parliament, take over, said Zoltan Kovacs, a communications councillor with the city of Debrecen.

Horvath and Kovacs are among seven Hungarians visiting Colorado to observe the election as part of the American Council of Young Political Leaders program. The program, co-sponsored by Springs-based El Pomar Foundation, provides an opportunity for foreigners to study the American electoral process for all angles.

The delegates, ages 25-40, spent several days in Washington, D.C., before heading out to battlegrounds states – the Hungarians to Colorado and delegates from Jordan and Israel to Virginia.

Arriving here Friday, the Hungarians have met with campaign strategists, party officials, grass-roots campaigners, media representatives, candidates and election workers.

“We just want the delegates to learn about a system that’s different from theirs,” program officer Liz Johnson said.

Hungarian politics are quite different from those of the United States, beginning with a 386-member Parliament which selects the president – largely a ceremonial position – and the prime minister, the chief executive.

Tens of thousands of election workers count paper ballots by hand in a country that’s had only a handful of elections since the Cold War ended.

Voting machines are unheard of.

“We’ve used paper ballots for years, so why should we change it?” said David Merker, with the Alliance of Free Democrats.

Hand counting, though, is efficient and usually provides election results within four hours, Kovacs said.

“There’s a lot of people in this whole process,” he said, noting 11,000 small election assemblies spread across a country the size of Indiana take charge of tallying votes.

Another difference: Everyone who’s 18 and older is automatically registered to vote, except those who are exempted by law, such as certain prison inmates. That means roughly 8 million of Hungary’s 10 million people are registered voters, the delegates said.

Kovacs said the visitors from Hungary have been awed by the grass-roots involvement in American politics, which isn’t the case in their home country where the political system is “as complicated as Rubik’s Cube.”

A highlight of their trip was seeing Barack Obama during a campaign stop in Pueblo on Saturday.

“He was impressive,” Merker said. “It was really touching. I felt a bit like (being) involved.”

Kovac said his lesson was that politics doesn’t mean candidates always have to have experience.

“A year ago nobody would have seen Obama as a celebrity,” he said, and noted Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, has “found her language.”

“To stir up politics, sometimes you need new people,” Kovacs said before heading out with the delegation to attend the Palin rally at a Colorado Springs Airport hangar on Monday.

Don Boehm carries a sign to a precinct office Monday, Nov. 3, 2008 at the Kootenai County Election Office in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in preparation for Tuesday’s elections. Photo by (AP Photo/Coeur d’Alene Press, Jerome A. Pollos)