Candidates Enlist Youth Muscle, not Just Support

In what has been named “Camp Obama,” Illinois Senator Barack Obama has enlisted the help of his youth base by sponsoring a group of 1,500 "campers" to help aid his 2008 presidential campaign. Open to all ages but comprised of a majority of college students, the group's goals include reaching out to “Generation Facebook” in an effort to promote political activism. Stationed in Obama’s home-state of Illinois, volunteers go through training that seeks both to educate on the policies and promises of the Senator but also teach effective ways to go about spreading these messages to potential voters in what has been called “Campaigning 101.”

Similarly, former Republican Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has developed his own system to entice young people to help the campaign raise money by offering commission on money raised for his campaign.

Candidates aren't just using young volunteers as free labor. Obama has in fact hired a youth coordinator to do young voter outreach and mobilization.

Other political hopefuls from both parties have started their own programs to appeal to those under 30. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) recently launched a program that involves both a text-messaging campaign and the hiring of her own full-time volunteer youth coordinator whose work includes bringing in support from the newly-developed Students for Hillary chapters located on college campuses across the country. Other initiatives include presidential contender John Edwards' recent cross-country college campus tour that aimed to spark campus mobilization in support of his campaign. Edwards has also hired a youth coordinator.