The youth vote and "Obamamania" seem to be one and the same.
Young Democrats are fired up about Sen. Barack Obama's twin, if somewhat vague, messages of hope and change in a way not seen since Democratic Sen. Eugene McCarthy ran as a populist insurgent in the 1968 presidential election.
But what about young conservatives?
If they exist, surely they must be a minority, lost in the political landscape, and mere echoes of their older counterparts, right?
The King County Republican Party doesn't think so.
It has launched MoveRed, a "youth coalition" designed to get voters aged 16-28 more involved and connected to the GOP through meet-ups, a Web site and get-out-to-vote efforts.
Peter Cowman, a junior at the University of Washington who's majoring in political science, heads the low-key initiative.
The ex-Marine is a volunteer in the GOP's King County's office. He says he's motivated by a desire to serve.
"It's just a passion of mine to be involved with what's going on," he said.
He's referring to MoveRed's mission of getting people plugged in at a younger age. He sees the party struggling somewhat in attracting and retaining young conservatives.
"The response from older Republicans is that they want to see more involvement from those in their 20s, but they are not sure how to get that accomplished," he said.
Cowman said that MoveRed and efforts like it are a response to this generational disconnect. Their site, MoveRed.org, is a place for young conservatives to find GOP events, rallies, discussions and videos posted to a blog.
"Young people need to take ownership in this election, and they can do that by attending events, volunteering, blogging, and being a part of the political process," he said.
Kyle Burleigh, another UW student who's been an active MoveRed volunteer since the group's formation last summer, said that another goal for MoveRed is to provide a sense of community for local young conservatives, who might be in the minority in their schools and workplaces.
"It is important to let young conservatives know that they are not alone in King County," he said, and fight the stereotype of the "rich, wealthy, stuck up, white, Bible thumper" conservative.
Tom Walker, the president of the UW College Republicans, agrees.
"I think because the Republicans are more identified with traditional values, and young people tend to be more progressive in their views on almost everything, Democrats, on the face of things, tend to draw in more youth," he said.
But those identifications could change if more groups such as MoveRed continue to challenge perceptions, he said.
"MoveRed serves the great purpose of drawing young people into the principals of conservatism and, ultimately, the Republican Party," he said. "It does a good job of being contemporary and focusing on the issues that are going to affect us as we grow older and inherit them," he said.
These issues include Social Security, taxes and terrorism, which are relevant regardless of one's age, he said.
Cowman said that the next step is positioning MoveRed to help local Republican candidates -- such as Dino Rossi and Dave Reichert -- this summer. This assistance will come in the form of traditional on-the-ground efforts like doorbelling and phone banking, along with "counter-protesting" at events like Sen. Hillary Clinton's Seattle visit last fall, and incumbent Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire's campaign kick-off in Auburn this month.
In the meantime, the group is planning a BBQ at Golden Gardens Park in Ballard to get things underway next month.
Ultimately, Cowman said the trick will be capturing the fickle youth vote, which tends to have a short collective attention span regardless of party.
But that's not always the fault of the youth voter.
"Young people do have lower voter turnout ... but it's not because people haven't responded to the parties' message, it's just that the party hasn't reached out to the youth," he said.
Cowman, Burleigh and Walker all believe that their message will win the day, even if it's not popular.
"Young conservatives are sometimes mischaracterized as being super-religious, ignorant people," Cowman said.
"The reality is that young conservatives see through the misplaced idealism and have a grasp of reality. I want MoveRed to take a better look at the issues, from a new perspective and try and bring some common sense to the problems that we face."
Will Mari writes for SeattlePoliticore.org, where this article originally appeared.
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Posted April 28, 2008 | 10:47 PM (EST)