California Young Democrats
For Immediate Release: Friday, October 31, 2008
Press Contact: Claire Conlon, (916) 595-3090, cconlon@youngdems.org

Contact Claire to arrange pre/during/post Election Day interviews with young Democratic leaders. Our GOYTV efforts make for great visuals for photo or video. We will arrange interviews based on requests for young voters/leaders from specific geographic areas and even gender and background categories. We now have over 200 Chapters statewide and our membership truly represents the diversity of our great state.


SACRAMENTO – The Young Democrats of America’s Young Voter Revolution campaigns are mobilizing the youth vote across the country. Between now and Election Day, Young Voter Revolution teams in California will contact thousands of young voters to ask them to pledge for Democrats on Election Day and then we’ll make sure they turn out to vote.

The expectations for the youth vote are once again high, but the Nay-Sayers are already at it. Senator McCain's political director, Mike Duhaime, recently told reporters that he does not believe the data shows that young people are changing the electorate. Well, the California Young Democrats will prove him and all the other Nay-Sayers wrong.

In person, peer to peer outreach is the basis of our program. Young Voter Revolution campaigns target young people at their homes and hangouts by using both door to door canvasses and street teams. YDA targets young people under the age of 36 in areas where the youth population can swing key elections. Young Voter Revolution campaigns also employ new media, particularly SMS text messaging and interactions on social networking websites like Facebook.

The CYD Young Voter Revolution campaign office is located at 1825 Pacific Avenue on Stockton’s Miracle Mile. CYD is running intense Get-Out-The-Youth-Vote operations all around the Northern San Joaquin Valley, which include precincts in Congressional District 11, Senate District 5 and Assembly Districts 10, 15, 17 and 26. Our campaign is also focusing on defeating Proposition 4, which is a threat to teenage safety, and Proposition 8, the anti-marriage initiative.

Predicting a large young vote can be traced back to the record-breaking participation of young voters in the 2008 Democratic Primary. Over 6.5 million young people participated in the primary, an increase of 103% since 2004. In California alone, close to 900,000 young voters participated in the primary. It is also clear that young people are voting for change. On Super Tuesday, young voter ballots favored Democrats by more than a 2:1 margin.

Go to www.youngvoterrevolution.com/california to read blog posts from organizers, check out photos from events, and review resources like our campaign toolkit, Election Protection guide, and online vote pledge.

A lot people have gone to Nevada and even more are planning to this weekend. Far be it from me to say that it isn't important.

But here in California, there is a lot of work to be done. I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but going to Nevada might not be the most important thing for us to be doing in the final few hours, now with so many close races in our grasp.

Propositions 4 & 8 are so dangerous to our future in California. In addition to unfairly taking people's rights away in the state, they set a dangerous precedent that we have rejected time and time again. If Republicans try to divide us over this and take away our rights, what will they go for next?

Don't just take it from me-Heather Brown, President of the Young Democrats of Nevada, agrees:



For those of you who must go to Nevada, please take a weeknight and help out.

For the many of you who aren't, spend a weeknight-and this weekend, and Election Day-defeating these initiatives and getting out the vote for Democrats.

So many more races are in play than we expected. As I said, let's not look back and see missed opportunities!

To those who attended Voting Man 2008-"The Greatest Camping and Canvassing Experience...EVER"-I want to thank all of you for such a great weekend. We made thousands of contacts this weekend and collected hundreds of pledge cards for follow up in November. To those of you who didn't, YOU MISSED OUT!






The California Young Democrats decided to combine two things we love to do-canvass for Democrats and camp out in the wilderness we believe ought to be around for generations to come-and it added up to one heck of an invasion.

Momentum in the Central Valley is growing. The Young Voter Revolution campaign is making a big impact in a place growing bluer and bluer by the day.

Like all the battleground states, the Central Valley will be the Margin of Victory in 2008 for Californians. Turning out young voters to vote here will lead to wins up and down the ticket-including a few upsets that nobody saw coming!

I'm here at our Stockton headquarters this afternoon, taking a moment to let you know that California Young Democrats from all over Northern California are in the Central Valley today, canvassing our fellow young voters.

Last night, we braved strong winds and bitter cold but had a great time camping out along the Stanislaus River. We huddled around the campfire, told a lot of stories-including WHY we got involved in politics and elections in the first place, and yes, even made some S'mores! And yes, they're still delicious.


Then, it was up bright and early this morning to get going. The temperature dropped down into the 40's for most of the night. Leaving the sleeping bags took a little longer than we expected. This was the scene about a half hour before we were supposed to leave:


Okay, so we're not morning people. Eventually we left the warmth of our sleeping bags and drove to Stockton for breakfast and training.


Then, it was time to head out to the streets, fairs, and hangouts to get people pledged for Democrats in November.

More to come later...

In just a few hours, Young Democrats from around the state will be gathering for Voting Man 2008. It combines camping, a three-day weekend, and canvassing for Democrats in the Central Valley, all into one weekend!


CYD is targeting young voters in the Central Valley because we need more Democrats elected to the legislature and every other level of government. We'll be canvassing the local areas to get the youth vote out for Democrats.

While we're at it, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and three-day weekend (for some) to camp out at night at Caswell Memorial State Park.

It's not too late to join us for this weekend of fun and stoking the Democratic wave set to hit in November. You can sign up right here.