Gubernatorial Candidates, Political Activists Kick Off Youth Vote Group

By Dionne Walker

June 23, 2005

 

Speaking before a crowd of tattooed and baseball-capped young Virginians Thursday night, Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine summed up why they needed to vote with a simple question.

 

"Would you let someone pick your girlfriend or boyfriend for you?" he asked the standing room only crowd in downtown Richmond, who answered with a booming "No."

 

"Then why would you let someone else pick your leaders?" he asked.

 

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate joined independent candidate Russ Potts and headliner Martin Luther King III in urging youth to get involved in the political process at Generation Engage's Virginia kickoff event.

 

The grass-roots political action group wants to awaken youth to civics by paying attention to their specific needs, said regional coordinator Christopher Lewis.

 

The concern with the youth vote is not a new one. People ages 18 to 24 are often singled out as the least-voting group in America.

 

Kaine estimated while 35 years ago, 65 percent of eligible voters participated in the gubernatorial election, only 47 percent did when he ran for lieutenant governor four years ago.

 

"Statistics show young people turn out to elections in much lower numbers than their elders," Lewis said. "We feel our organization can fill a niche there."

 

That means helping youth get positions in political campaigns, according to the group's Web site. It also means linking candidates with their under-30 constituents through more cozy, sneakers-and-jeans events -- not the slick political commercials upon which Lewis says candidates too often rely.

 

"To create engaged citizens, you can't do it through mass market media," he said. "You have to do it with a handshake."

 

With the chest-thumping beats of rapper Missy Elliott booming in the background, urban hipsters bumped elbows with buttoned-down politicos in Richmond's trendy Hyperlink Cafe.

 

"There's nothing, nothing, more important that could be done than what Generation Engage is doing," said King III, who stood in for mother Coretta Scott King, absent due to illness.

 

Recalling the message of his famed, civil rights leading father, King III said getting people active in politics has to be a crusade. He praised Generation Engage for making youth a part of that mission.

 

"The wisest investment we can make in the civic health of our community is in people," he said, flanked by Kaine, Potts and Marty Kilgore, who attended in place of her husband, Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore.

 

University of Virginia student Joselyn Spence, 20, drove from Chesapeake to hear what the candidates had to say.

 

"It's really important for youth to come out," she said. "We're going to change a lot of problems in society."

 

As to whether Generation Engage could succeed in getting the college-age set into voting booths, King III pointed to the youth lining walls and sitting on the floor.

 

"Look around you," he said. "It's already working."