As youth vote grows, politicians try to cash in

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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Tilden Hagan spends his days cruising college campuses trying to pick up students.His line: Let me tell you about my mom.Before they can answer, Hagan, a 25-year-old Duke University alumnus, launches into a speech about the ills of America's health-care system, its lack of financial aid for students and slow progress in making energy green.He insists that his mother, Kay Hagan, can fix what's broken with America, and he tells college students that she needs their votes in the May 6 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate."I hope my mom sounds like someone you want to vote for," Hagan recently told a group of 20 young Democrats at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.Energized by heated presidential primaries, young voters are turning out at three times the rate states have seen in previous primaries. North Carolina political candidates want to tap that energy, too.National and state campaigns are connecting with young voters through new modes of communication. Politicians are chatting with them in virtual worlds like Facebook, sending their children to campuses to campaign and texting supporters' cell phones.Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, has crisscrossed North Carolina visiting campuses. Her rival for the nomination, Barack Obama, has added features to his Facebook profile to allow supporters to get updates on his campaign.Republican John McCain has his 23-year-old daughter, Meghan, blogging from the campaign trail.Hagan's chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Jim Neal, has tapped college students to travel the state campaigning with him. Republican gubernatorial candidate Fred Smith and several other candidates have dropped their commercials on YouTube, an online video site that often captures younger viewers.Young voters had been disappearing from the polls starting in the early 1970s. By 2000, the number of young people casting votes had dropped by a third nationally, said Emily Kirby, a senior research associate at the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement in Maryland.In 2004, politicians and activists began working to reverse the trend. Campaigns assigned staff to reach young voters. They tapped college students to knock on doors and talk to peers about candidates. Campaigns started to create profiles on Web sites geared toward young people.It worked.In 2004, the number of voters ages 18 to 29 increased by nearly 10 percent.The movement has continued, Kirby said. Many campaigns this year have hired youth directors. Facebook has counted more than 500 candidates across the nation with profiles on its site, which allows people to chat with and "friend" politicians.Patrick Sebastian, a 20-year-old nephew of Republican gubernatorial hopeful Pat McCrory, helped him set up a Facebook page. On the page, the Charlotte mayor notes his favorite Beatles tunes and announces that his favorite movie is "Animal House."In presidential primary contests earlier this year, the number of 18- to 29-year-olds who voted tripled from 2004 rates. Tennessee saw a fourfold increase in young voters compared with 2004.The majority of those participating this year have tended to vote Democratic.North Carolina is anticipating a similar rush at its primary Tuesday. At least 150,000 young voters have registered for the first time. That's more than three times the number of young voters who registered for the first time before the primaries in 2004.Though politicians may be employing new tricks to reach young voters, they say young voters are often interested in the same issues as their older counterparts."What's on my mind? How will I find a job after college?" said Patrick Lawson, a North Carolina State University junior active in GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham's Facebook page. "And, holy smokes, how in the world am I going to find $60 to fill up my gas tank?"(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)