DES MOINES, Iowa — Strong drinks and live music are the usual attractions at the People’s Bar & Grill, but on a recent Thursday there was an added draw at the downtown pub: Michelle Obama.
“I know this is the end of a long work day. Have a beer. Sit down, relax, take a load off,” the wife of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama told the crowd of stylish people in their 20s and 30s.
She launched into her stump speech for the Democratic presidential candidate and urged the crowd to participate in the Jan. 3 caucuses.
“You have the responsibility, no matter how busy your life is, or how cynical you think you’ve become. You have to caucus,” she said.
Long neglected by political campaigns, young professionals are being wooed through such groups as “Generation Obama,” New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s “Hillblazers” and Arizona Sen. John McCain’s “YP4McCain” — that’s Young Professionals for McCain, in the abbreviated style favored in text messages.
The group they all are aiming at — college graduates in the early years of their careers, often unmarried — has long been viewed by campaigns as apathetic. But its voting strength is increasing.
In the 2004 presidential election, 20.1 million people younger than 30 voted — 4.3 million more than in 2000. It marked the first substantive increase in young voters’ participation in more than three decades. And their participation grew again in the 2006 midterm election. In 2008, 44 million potential voters will be younger than 30 .
“Our demographic is waking up,” said Jessica Walter, 25, government-relations coordinator for the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s Young Professionals Connection.
The campaigns are paying attention, according to Kathleen Barr, research director for Young Voter Strategies, a project at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management. Young Voter Strategies recently merged with Rock the Vote, a nonpartisan group formed in 1990 that uses entertainers and pop culture to mobilize young voters.
Nearly every campaign this year has staffers or volunteers in Iowa and other early-voting states focused on getting young professionals to the polls, Barr said.
Hillblazers suggests that young supporters invite friends over to watch “Grey’s Anatomy” or “House” before discussing Clinton’s health-care policy, or “The Office” before talking about Clinton’s plans for expanding the middle class.
“You want to target these folks where they are and where they spend time,” said Isaac Baker, a spokesman for Clinton. “There’s no better messenger for you than someone in their peer group who says, ‘What are you up to this week? Come join me at a debate-watching party.’ ”
Malay Bouaphakeo, 24, was one such target. The information-technology recruiter from Des Moines has never taken part in a caucus, and the Michelle Obama appearance was the first political event she had attended.
“As I get older, things are more important to me,” said Bouaphakeo, who has not decided whom to support. “I just kind of got into it. I want to hear what everyone is saying.”
Beyond votes, candidates are tapping young professionals for cash, typically for event-admission fees of $100 or less.
