SAVE

I'm off to the land of South Carolina to wittness the primary before I embark on a quick Find Rudy Campaign. Why you might ask am I looking for Rudy... well... has anyone really seen him lately? I mean other than the great state of Florida. So I'm going to Florida to find Rudy.

Again... you're shaking your head... See, Rudy is actually one of only TWO republican candidates that have a youth section on their websites. One of course is Ron Paul. So, first I want to see what the crowds are like at his events - are there young people? Do they seem engaged? Do they feel like they are missing out without the whole Chuck Norris thing? Why did Rudy feel compelled to connect with young voters? All questions I'll try to get answers to.

Speaking of the GOP.... Jane Flemming Kleeb from YVP tipped me off to Jason Mattera. Jason is from the Young Americas Foundation - which gets young people into wacko right wing policies. Yeah... I know... I'm totally a partisan hack, but Jason has a few good points here. 1. Young people aren't conservative. 2. The GOP doesn't do youth outreach.... hardly at all. 3. Young conservatives are more likely to be involved in church not campaigns. 4. Reagan is dead and gone. Its true. He is.

Ew... don't you just need a shower after that?! I wish the GOP super good luck on their adventures attracting young voters. And while I hope those young voters take one look and come running the other way to my big happy partisan party, I have to say once again that any outreach to young voters... is good outreach. Even when they're evil? Yes, even when they're evil, because they are showing you that you are important... and lets face it... you are.

Ok.. moving on... Hillary Clinton launched a youth focused national tour this week titled Our Voices, Our Future.

"The Clinton campaign today launched the “Our Voice, Our Future Tour,” a two-week tour to encourage young voters to support Hillary and make their voices heard. The tour builds on and expands Hillblazers, the campaign’s youth mobilization program. Through visits to high schools, colleges and young professional events, Chelsea Clinton, Members of Congress, and prominent Hillary backers will reach out to young people and inspire and mobilize support for the campaign. New supporters will be encouraged to engage their social networks in support of Hillary.

“Young people have always been a voice for change. Throughout my campaign, I’ve heard students and young professionals speak about the challenges we face and the solutions they’d like to see, from an education policy that makes college affordable to a health care policy that provides quality care to all Americans,” said Clinton. “Young Americans are thinking about our future and making their voices heard during this election, and I am listening, and I’ll be sure to continue to listen in the White House.”

When I asked OK YD president Mandy Winton about it she was enthusiastic

"Sen Clinton will be able to take her message to young voters who will be pivotal in the outcome of this historic election. Hillary brings real solutions to problems our generation is facing. From rising costs for higher education to the environment, Senator Clinton will bring real change and solutions for a brighter future for all Americans," she said

While I applaud the effort for the same reason that I champion Jason's antics, I worry that for her its too little too late. If young voters don't come out for her and she does become the nominee, I wonder if that will reduce her enthusiasm for young voters in the general. I could be jumping to conclusions, but its a fear that I think all of us face ... going BACK to the sad scary world where politicians didn't know we mattered....

And finally Senator John Edwards will be the second candidate to participate in the town hall style forum hosted by the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) today (Friday) at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia, South Carolina.

The event will mark the second in a series that SAVE is hosting with Democratic and Republican Presidential Candidates. “The gap between politicians and young people is too wide,” said Matthew Segal, the executive director of SAVE. “The purpose of our forum is to show politicians that young people care and to show young people that politicians are accessible and listening. I am pleased that John Edwards recognizes that youth are a crucial component of the electorate who require the same respect, attention and consideration that older voting blocs receive.”

This comes about after BraveNewFilms's MeetThePrez did an interview with Sen. Edwards asking him why he thought young voters mattered.

SAVE's townhall will be going on around the time the Senator's recent interview with Tyra Banks will be aired. See clips here and here.

Senator Clinton appeared earlier, she and Tyra discussed Clinton's first date with Bill, text messaging, and headbands. Obama also appeared earlier this year. You can see clips from him revealing his first date experience here.

Hey - say what you will about Tyra, but she gets them to answer some personal questions, and she's much nicer than Tim Russert.

Happy South Carolina Primary to everybody!

There were a lot of great posts over the past few days that I missed while at Kos. Here's what's been going on in the past five days in our corner of the progressive movement:

• Over at MyDD, Jerome took my job and filed the weekend youth vote report, noting a new Washington Post poll of Iowa Caucus-goers that sampled a high amount of young folks. It's the first poll I've seen of Iowa that puts Obama ahead. The question becomes - what will be Obama's strategy to get those voters to the caucus, and how do you make them effective caucus-goers? You don't just show up at a caucus, you have to politick for your candidate. Can Obama teach enough young voters how to do that to make the difference?
  

  Also interesting in this poll is that Edwards practically tied with Hillary for the remaining youth support. Is he starting to gain ground among Millenials?

• If you can get past the starry-eyed rhetoric for his preferred candidate, Jacob Alperin-Sheriff has an interesting post on the Students for Barack Obama blog asking why Obama is the preferred candidate of young voters. I think the questions are right, though I don't know that I agree with his conclusions.
• Four Presidential Candidates will be stopping in to the Daily Show before the end of the month.
• Campus Progress reports on the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE), a new organization dedicated to removing barriers to youth participation on election day. They've got some interesting ideas about registration vs. education and ideology. Not sure I agree 100%, but they definitely deserve a closer look.
• Hillary Clinton is now promoting the idea of a Public Service Academy. She also got slapped around at Yearly Kos during a question about Lobbyists.
  
• Chris Bowers at Open Left had two posts about the health of the progressive movement - Blogosphere Diversity and Why the Progressive Movement has Stalled.
• Rudy Giuliani's daughter became the next Obama Girl.
• Taking a look at the other side of the aisle, the young Republicans are getting restless.
• Last but absolutely not least, this was the viral video of Yearly Kos: