RECENT POSTS
- This Flu Kills
August 29, 2009 - Serious Doubts on Healthcare
August 27, 2009 - Ted Kennedy Dies
August 26, 2009 - Two and a Half Men: The Return of the Sitcom
August 24, 2009 - MJ's FBI File
August 24, 2009 - How Youth Make a Difference
August 22, 2009 - Hurricane Katrina Four-Year Anniversary: Have We Done Enough?
August 21, 2009 - Bringing Guns to Obama Town Halls
August 19, 2009
E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Ready to Win
The Pepsi Center is not the only place for Democratic National Convention action. Our Web team trekked up Colfax Avenue in the early morning heat to the nearby Colorado Convention Center where we visited the College Democrats of America, the Democratic Party's college outreach arm.
We caught up with the group's incoming national president, Katie Naranjo, and outgoing national president, Lauren Wolfe, who were attending panel discussions on climate change and religion in politics. The two were among 525 College Democrats of America students who showed up to the convention this year, and they were excited about the Democratic ticket's chances this November.
Katie Naranjo, Incoming President, College Democrats of America
“I think this is really going to be a great ticket that young people can really get behind,” says Naranjo, a 22-year-old University of Texas at Austin student. "We're here. We're united. We're together. We're ready to win,” she adds.
Youth on Biden
And that enthusiasm also applies to Sen. Obama's choice for vice-presidential candidate, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden.
“He really represents the backbone of the party and he is going to stand up and fight for what he believes in,” Naranjo says. “I think this is really going to be a great ticket that young people can really get behind.”
Really?
Because when you consider Obama's message of change and hope and taking a new approach at home and abroad, some have argued that choosing a 65-year-old running mate who has been a senator since 1972 weakens the theme.
Not so, says Naranjo and Wolfe. "Joe Biden really says what he thinks and does what he says he's going to do,” says Wolfe, a 25-year-old law student at the University of Detroit, Mercy in Michigan. "t's kind of a refreshing way for politics to be handled.”
Underrepresented in polls
With all of the College Democrats' enthusiasm, I wondered if they hadn't noticed that their candidate was neck-and-neck in national polls with presumptive Republican Party nominee Sen. John McCain.
Wolfe says that she's not worried because she knows that young people are underrepresented in national polls.
Lauren Wolfe, Outgoing President, College Democrats of America
“They're switching addresses. They're switching phone numbers. We don't have land lines,” Wolfe says, referring to her cell phone. "How are you supposed to be polling these people who all support Sen. Obama by such a huge percentage?”
Wolfe argues that the increase in young Democratic support began in 2004 and increased in 2006, which pre-dates Obama's party ascension.
“Some if it has to do with Barack Obama and that's exciting,” Wolfe says. "A lot of it has to do with the Democratic Party standing up for what young people believe in.”
And this fall, the College Democrats of America hope that young people will stand up for “change you can believe in.”