DNC: Youth makes delegate a celebrity at convention

DENVER • While most college freshmen were heading back to class, Ben Taber was at the Pepsi Center on Monday afternoon wolfing down a hot dog before he tackled a gauntlet of interviews with Fox News' Studio B, Denver TV stations and World Wrestling Entertainment.

"I get nervous, but I thrive on that," Taber said. "It's just this week, and then it goes back to normal."
At 18, the Colorado Springs delegate and Colorado College freshman is one of the youngest delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which has made him a superstar among other delegates and the media. Charming and smart, he makes for a good interview. Fellow Democrats are excited by his youth and wag fingers at him as they tell him to stay involved.

Taber is more of a scholar than a cheerleader. The son of two teachers, he's the guy who sits in the front row of the classroom. Yes, he supports Barak Obama - "By trying to establish a better future, rather than appealing to the fear of what's happened and what might happen, he certainly appeals to the optimist in me."

But he's just as interested in watching the political process in action. And, as he talks to delegates and politicians such as Rep. Mark Udall of Colorado and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he is asking questions, quietly toying with the idea of someday running for office.

"The atmosphere is just great. There's so much energy," he said. "I've met a lot of different people who shape our lives."

Taber seems to be taking his new-found celebrity in stride, but young people like him carry the weight of the Democrats' hopes on their shoulders.

He's one of the army of young Obama supporters challenging the conventional wisdom that about young voters - that they're apathetic, more interested in partying to learn about the issues and won't show up on Election Day.

Taber is passionate about the campaign, he's registering other young people to vote, and his favorite party is the political kind.

He's far from alone.

"If you look at the hard numbers and the voting trends from the past five years, young voters have turned out in increasingly large numbers in the last three major elections," said Michael Connery of the progressive young voters' blog Futuremajority.com. "We saw that in 2004 when 4.3 million new young voters went to the polls and turnout rose from 40 to 49 percent. We saw it in 2006, when youth turnout rose for the first midterm election since the 1980s. And we've already seen it in the 2008 primaries where youth turnout doubled, tripled, and sometimes quadrupled over previous turnout at the state level.

"There's no reason to think that young voters won't show up in November in record numbers. Anyone who thinks otherwise is operating out of old preconceptions and isn't taking a hard look at the facts on the ground."

The war cry of the Young Democrats of America is: "I'm young. I'm a Democrat. And I vote."
While research from the Harvard University Institute of Politics suggests that younger voters are mostly centrists who favor candidates rather than a conservative or liberal ideology, the trends have been good for Democrats and troubling to Republicans.

In 2000, George W. Bush and Al Gore split the youth vote; in 2004, John Kerry beat Bush 54-44 among under-30 voters; and polls indicate that Obama holds a 2-1 advantage over John McCain in the age group.

"For those who believe that everyone under 30 is voting for Obama, I think they are right that young people want change. But I think it's wrong that all of us young people believe that Obama has the answers," said Kristi Burton, 21, a Colorado Springs delegate to the Republican National Convention and the driving force behind a measure n the November ballot that could outlaw abortions. "Yes, (Obama) talks about change, but he has no substance. We need a leader with answers and with experience, and for many of us this year, that leader is John McCain."

Yet, Burton knows she's in the minority among voters her age. Taber thinks Obama represents a new kind of politics that resonates with his friends. He also thinks the Obama campaign's use of technology makes young people feel connected - he received the news Joe Biden was Obama's choice as vice presidential nominee via text message while he was camping.

Stroll into the Obama campaign headquarters in Colorado Springs and it feels like you've wandered onto a college campus. At the front desk recently was Janos Marton, 26, a law student at Fordham University in New York. He came to Colorado Springs for a few weeks this summer so he could help in a battleground state.

"I see a lot of friends who were apolitical being informed first and becoming Obama supporters second," Marton said. "He gives the country the opportunity to move past a lot of the stale old politics and find solutions to the country's biggest problems."

Bringing in hip college students from the coasts can also backfire.

"That can alienate local voters, when you have some fresh-faced kid from across the country telling you what you should be thinking, instead of a factory worker down the street," said Joshua Dunn, political science professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Political scientists and pundits agree that John McCain has sought to use Obama's popularity with young voters against him, calling his candidacy a fad and equating him to pop tarts Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

"McCain's greatest support is among older voters (over 65), and he is weakest among voters under 40," Connery said. "It's absolutely his strategy to maximize turnout among the older crowd and minimize the influence of younger voters.

"McCain's ads are insulting to the intelligence of young people. All he's doing is turning himself into the crazy old man who yells at kids to get off his lawn."

On Nov. 4, the country will find out exactly how important the youth vote is or isn't, and whether under-30 turnout records will be shattered.

"Traditionally the youth vote has been finicky," Taber said. "Although I hope people vote for Barak Obama, I care more about people getting involved in the political process."