A phenomenon is occurring within the Obama campaign, with thousands upon thousands of students flocking to Barack, and supporting him through these very early stages of the 2008 Presidential election. Typically, the grass-roots youth movement swells, like Dean in '04 and Gore in '00, then dies down after a period of time. So it's important to note that the Obama youth movement is bucking this trend, and actually increasing momentum.
One of the reasons for this is that the main Obama campaign has firmly grasped the energy and enthusiasm of the youth movement, and has directed it in efficient and effective ways. One of these directions was the immensely successful Camp Obama.
In an article published in the Capital Times, the campus chapter of Students for Barack Obama for University of Wisconsin in Madison was profiled due to success not only in their state, but in the nearby state of Iowa. Andy Gordon, the group's campaign chair, attributed the continuing success the group has had to the fact that, "many of us have already been trained on how the caucuses work and what to do."
In fact, before school started, the dedicated members of the UW-Madison SFBO chapter were in contact with their counter-parts in Iowa, campaigning and helping out with various tasks. The group has also taken initiative in the new media area, encouraging Facebook participation, and using e-mail as a campaign tool.
The article focusing on this youth movement as well as the impact that the UW bunch has had can be found here.
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