dates representing two halves of
an unloved political system.
“It’s a big challenge,” says Bill
Carrick, a Democratic strategist
in Los Angeles. “Circumstances
are just entirely different. It’s
just going to be more difficult.
There is just not as much of
that incredible organic enthusiasm as there was in ‘08 so it
makes the organizational challenge much greater.”
Romney is betting that disaffection among young voters will deprive Obama of foot
soldiers. “There is definitely
an intensity decline,” says Williams, the Romney spokesman.
“When there’s decline in intensity, turnout decreases. Also, it
hurts their ground operations.
When young voters have lower
intensity, they are much less
likely to come in on a Saturday
and knock on doors and make
phone calls.”
If that prognosis proves correct, it will reflect changing
sentiments among people like
Daniel Gordon.
Four years ago, Gordon was
a freshman at Bowling Green
State University in northwestern Ohio. He watched Obama’s
speech after his victory in the
Iowa caucuses and swiftly joined
the cause as a volunteer. He saw
Obama as the antithesis of the
man who had dominated politics
for most of his memory, George
W. Bush, and the unsavory
events that defined the Bush administration — lies about weapons of mass destruction, which
pulled the country into Iraq;
warrantless wiretapping of citizens; arrogance in world affairs;
and the abandonment of New
Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
“He seemed transformative,”
Gordon says of Obama. “This is
somebody who could bring us
back, who could have a national
dialogue, somebody like Roosevelt or Kennedy. We wanted
ELECTION
2012
Obama &
Young Voters
HUFFINGTON
06.17.12
WHEN YOUNG VOTERS
HAVE LOWER INTENSITY,
THEY ARE MUCH LESS
LIKELY TO COME IN
ON A SATURDAY AND
KNOCK ON DOORS.
— Ryan Williams
Spokesman, Romney for President
someone we could believe in,
and not just another cynical
politician. This was somebody
who was actively defying the