Is Obama the Only Youth Game in Town?

Posted by Ally Klimkoski, WireTap at 10:14 AM on April 1, 2008.

Let me first say that generally mainstream media hasn't done the best job at covering young voters and the youth movement afoot in our country. From 60 Minutes, to CNN, and the NYTimes, to more political wonky things like The Hill, many have fallen, so it was only a matter of time before the Washington Post would contribute their latest round of blasphemy.

The piece starts out by talking about the excitment the media drums up each year about the youth vote actually coming out - and claims that every year its a disappointment.

Wrong! Since 2000, the youth vote has continued to climb upward. Young people turned out in greater numbers each year including midterm elections like 2006. The most easily accessible research will prove that. You don't even have to comb through data to find this info, so already I'm annoyed.

"They make voter registration more convenient, and they try to make casting a ballot sound fashionably subversive. Both strategies have failed," an editorial page writer Catherine Rampell claims.

Wrong! If Rock the Vote didn't have significant data to back up what they were doing, me thinks they wouldn't have funding to soldier onward. But they do. And they have. For example, registering over a million people in 2004, 15,000 Community Street Team members, and signed up 118,000 young people to receive political information and GOTV messages through their cell phones - a pioneering tactic now being utilized by everyone who is anyone. Rock the Vote has done more for the youth movement than than peanut butter has done for jelly.

Catherine goes on to say that because all of these other groups screwed it up so badly Barack Obama has been able to capitalize and swoop in to save the youth vote.

Wrong! I love Obama, and I love what he's done for young voters, but the only thing he has done that is different is actually reach out to young voters early and often. That makes him different than any other candidate since Bill Clinton's MTV Choose or Lose outreach in 1992. But it makes him just like Rock the Vote. The awesome text messaging program he is using isn't new, it was used before as I mentioned above. Rule one is think outside the box and use what you got. Most youth orgs are good at this because they are already different and more willing to try something new.

I love that candidates are using these tactics and I think Obama should be commended for incorporating them into his operations at such an early stage, but the only people these tactics are new to are old people and candidates. We welcome you with open arms, but organizations have been doing this for the last few years. And now you're starting to see other candidates pick up on it. Thus the emergence of the HillBlazers this past winter, and McCain's sudden internet campaigns.

You don't want to read the rest. It gets pretty sad after that. She tries to claim that celebrity endorsements are all that orgs like Rock the Vote use and people dressed like thugs and rebellion... Its a diatribe that gets pretty embarrassing as she seems to be ignorant of the actual operation used by these organizations.

I'll agree that celebrity endorsements and flashy stickers aren't enough to get young people out to vote. That's why these groups have continued to utilize targeted communication tactics, peer to peer network building, voter registration drives, and get out the vote operations to succeed in the ways they have.

Candidates are all using these mechanisms for change - the difference is that Obama was the first candidate to do it for this generation. All these candidates have celebrities, Sen. Clinton, John McCain, remember Chuck Norris and Mike Huckabee? But, the big focus of each of the campaigns is connecting voters to the candidates message in the most compelling way possible.

Finally, if these tactics did not work in the 1990's and they are working now, it doesn't mean that Obama is the reason for it. It may have something to do with the fact that the 18-29 year olds that are voting now are not the same 18-29 year olds that were voting in the 1990's. It may just be a generational thing.

Tagged as: youth, obama, youth vote

Ally Klimkoski has been a staff in numerous races from presidential campaigns to city council races. Ally also consults and provides trainings to interest groups and activist organizations nationwide. Ally is especially interested in global human rights issues and the ever-increasing wage disparity in the U.S.