Youth Come Out For Obama in Northern Idaho

By Kathleen Miller

COEUR D'ALENE, ID-- Barack Obama's campaign brought out a wide variety of supporters tonight at the Kootenai County Caucuses in Idaho. With 1,115 ballots submitted, Obama won 27 out of 34 delegates at tonight's contest.

When observing the Obama crowd, one thing in particular stood out. The plethora of youth voters who came out to make their voices heard.

"We love Obama, he's the best!" stated Mitchell Kennedy, a 17 year-old senior at Lake City High School in Coeur d'Alene exclaimed. "I believe he's sincere, I believe he is going to effect change and not just talk about."

Sporting Obama-inspired attire (including a shirt proclaiming, "Obama rocks my caucus!"), Mitchell and his fellow classmate Whitney Chanay said the excitement surrounding Obama at their high school was high. Chanay expressed her excitement seeing so many of her fellow classmates at the caucus.

So why does Obama appeal to youth voters? According to Kennedy, he and his fellow classmates like Obama because "he's being honest, he's not for show. He seems real."

Kyle Campbell, an 18 year-old from Worley, Idaho, said he believed in Obama's "good policies. I think he'd be a great president."

Many youth participants stuck around until the very end, vying for the chance to be one of the 27 delegates to go to the state caucus.

One 18 year-old, when asked to explain why she should be a delegate, stood up and proclaimed that it was "an awesome chance for the younger generation" to have younger delegates at the state caucus for Obama.