Young Voters are the New Pink

Or the new orange? The new indigo?

I can’t keep track, but either way, point is that the youth vote’s hot this year. Presidential candidates can’t seem to get enough of us:

• Barack Obama has made youth vote outreach an integral part of his campaign, beginning in Iowa and on down to Indiana. From the early days of Students for Barack Obama and the “million-strong” Facebook group, to recent efforts in IN and NC and the launch of Vote for Change, the Obama campaign has embraced the youth vote in 2008.

• John McCain is vowing to fight for the youth vote. His campaign manager, speaking in April to GOP leaders from around the country, said “we’ve got to go after this segment” in 2008, and Senator McCain has announced his intention to “contest every youth vote” in November.

• Hillary Clinton ramped up her youth outreach going into the New Hampshire primary. Key players in “Hillblazers” and other youth outreach efforts have been her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, and celebrities America Ferrera and Amber Tamblyn, and youth outreach has been a part of the campaign right up to yesterday’s West Virginia primary.

This is new – and awesome. I’ve never seen presidential campaigns not only TALK about the youth vote, but actually put time and energy into getting out to our campuses and communities.

And you know why they’re doing it – it’s because you’re voting, you’re taking action, and you’re building power for the Millennial Generation. You voted in big numbers in 2004, big numbers again in 2006 – and then you blew it all out of the water with double and triple turnout in the 2008 primaries!

Let’s keep it up this November. Make sure you’re registered to vote, make sure all your friends are registered to vote, too, and get involved – join a Rock the Vote Street Team or volunteer, and be a part of the Year of the Young Voter.

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kat Bio: Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 5:09 pm and is filed under presidential campaign, youth vote. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.