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Focus on Youth Benefits Obama

Campaign makes young people a priority, using net to organize

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 1, 2008 11:04 AM CST

(Newser) – The youth vote is back, and that’s a very good thing for Barack Obama. Young people are voting in numbers not seen in decades, and they prefer Obama by an astounding margin. In Iowa, under-25 turnout was up 135%, and those voters favored Obama 4 to 1. And the 46-year-old didn’t luck into this groundswell, Time reports; he methodically built it.

One voting expert sees Obama's strategy—meeting with student leaders, aiming precious ad dollars at them, using Facebook to recruit volunteers—as 21st-century machine politics. “I had a friend tell me this was impossible, that it's hopeless to try to organize students," says one supporter. "Now he says, 'You were right, I was wrong. Where do I sign up?’”  

Students from UCLA hold a banner in support of Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., before a Democratic debate in front of the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
Students from UCLA hold a banner in support of Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., before a Democratic debate in front of the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008....   (Associated Press)
Florida State University students Daniel Johnson, left, Swaier Rahman, left center, Greg Arroyo, right center, and Regina Mincberg, right, show their support for Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama in front of Florida's Old Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008, in Tallahassee, Fla.  (AP Photo/Phil Coale)
Florida State University students Daniel Johnson, left, Swaier Rahman, left center, Greg Arroyo, right center, and Regina Mincberg, right, show their support for Democratic Presidential candidate Barack...   (Associated Press)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, back to camera, speaks with students after a rally on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa,  Friday, Sept. 21, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevin Sanders)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, back to camera, speaks with students after a rally on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, Friday, Sept. 21, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevin...   (Associated Press)
Supporters crowd together as they reach toward presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., following a campaign visit to a Seattle nightclub, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007.  Obama chose a nightclub, Showbox SoDo, as his fundraising venue in one of the West's most heavily Democratic cities and brought in rock musicians to...
Supporters crowd together as they reach toward presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., following a campaign visit to a Seattle nightclub, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007. Obama chose a nightclub, Showbox...   (Associated Press)
Democratic Presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, poses with a youth group from Covenant House in Washington, Wednesday, July 18, 2007, prior to delivering a speech on the struggles of the nation's poor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Democratic Presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, poses with a youth group from Covenant House in Washington, Wednesday, July 18, 2007, prior to delivering a speech on the struggles...   (Associated Press)
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