Dean campaign gains momentum from college students, Internet

by Kevin Joy

WASHINGTON - When Greg Morin's friends try to talk to him on the computer, they come face to face with his latest obsession: Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean. The Trinity College senior attaches a pop-up photo of Dean to every instant message he sends.

The unusual campaign technique might seem foreign to most voters, but it could be the key to unlocking a potential new political force: Generation Y.

With their funny lingo and their high-tech methods, college students and their under-30 peers are swarming to the Dean campaign in numbers that belie their reputation for apathy. Their grassroots support has become a major element of what campaign officials have dubbed "Generation Dean"-the largest youth outreach by any of the nine Democratic contenders.

Dean boasts 725 youth-run coalitions-called GenDean groups for short. In Connecticut, clubs at six colleges, three law schools and seven high schools have registered with the organizing website, generationdean.com.

Yale sophomore Beth France is a regular at New Haven's monthly Dean rallies, called "meetups," and chronicles the experiences by "blogging" in her LiveJournal-a public Internet diary service with 1.3 million registered users.

University of Connecticut sophomore Taylor Woods spreads the word on Dean campaign events and college rallies via her automatic e-mail address book, or "listserv," which she uses to communicate with hundreds of other Dean supporters. She rarely uses the phone anymore, let alone pen and paper.

They're young and idealistic, but unlike college students of decades past, this new generation is more likely to express its political views through on-line journals than by marching on city hall. Tech-smart and pop-culture savvy, they're highly resistant to patronizing political types and slick media marketing.

Still, Dean has broken through, in part, by meeting the students on their own turf: the Internet.

The former Vermont governor has used unorthodox "e-campaigning" - to reach out to young people. His campaign speaks the fickle language of twentysomethings raised on the Simpsons, the Clintons and Madonna. Top Dean staffers publicize their Instant Messenger screen names, allowing viewers to contact them day or night. Yahoo! Groups has 659 different Internet bulletin boards that focus on the candidate. And three electronic greeting cards are available on generationdean.com, a site which boasts more than 13,000 young members.

Dean's lead among Democrats in campaign contributions comes, to a great extent, from on-line donations. During the second quarter of this year, he raised $3.6 million of his $7.6 million total through the Internet.

At least as unusual: one-fourth of Dean's 83,041 financial contributors that quarter were students.

"It's amazing that other politicians haven't taken the same advantage" of Internet campaigning, said Morin, 20, coordinator for Connecticut GenDean groups and president of the College Democrats chapter at Trinity. "Young people are so plugged into technology, and this allows them to get involved through a medium where they already feel comfortable."

Young people aren't the only ones who connect to Dean on-line. Senior citizens, Mormons, even some Republicans - and a host of little-known individuals - post dozens of blogs for his campaign. More than half of the visitors to the Connecticut for Dean web page are over 30, said Aldon Hynes, the site's webmaster.

But Dean made a special effort to reach out to young people during his recent seven-city "Raise the 'Roots" tour, which attracted about 10,000 people. He appeals to youth with his anti-war rhetoric, his fiscal conservatism and his support, as Vermont's governor, for the nation's first bill recognizing gay civil unions.

"People see him as the rebel," said Caroline Conway, president of the College Democrats of Connecticut and a senior at Fairfield University. "He gives off a much better sense of being in touch with young people than the other candidates."

Generation Dean spokesman Michael Whitney said Dean is paying particular attention to potential new voters, even among the generation that traditionally votes least. A record-low 30 percent of registered voters under 30 turned out for the 2000 presidential election "He isn't looking at his supporters as free labor-they're driving this campaign," Whitney said. "They have a lot of stake in the next election."

But if history is a guide, Dean should not stake his campaign too heavily on youth. Some political scientists draw comparisons to the failed campaigns of Democrats Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972-both anti-war candidates with large student support.

"He is an ideal candidate for disaffected young people," Dorothy James, a Connecticut College government professor, said of Dean. "They're mad as hell and they're anti-incumbent."

But some of the same qualities that appeal to students might alienate other voters, said John Hollay, president of the College Democrats chapter at UConn.

"The size of student support is impressive, but if he focuses only on the angry college leftist, he's going to run into trouble," said Hollay, a supporter of Sen. John Kerry, of Massachusetts. "Howard Dean speaks a lot of good rhetoric, but he needs to expand his appeal to more moderate voters."

Likewise, Internet politicking has little influence outside college campuses and activist groups, said Tobe Berkovitz, an expert in Internet marketing and associate dean of Boston University's College of Communication.

"This is not a great way to reach suburbia," Berkovitz said. He said the number of serious political bloggers and web-surfers pales in comparison to the much larger and more reliable voting bloc of middle-aged adults and senior citizens.

But following Dean's early Internet success, nearly every one of his opponents is utilizing technology to reach potential voters. Kerry and retired Gen. Wesley Clark now hold meetups, which are organized on-line. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut keeps a web diary and a bizarre photo collection, titled "Dogs for Joe," which displays his supporters' pets. Even President Bush has joined the blogging world.

"Candidates in prior elections had web sites before, but now they're realizing the Internet is a mobilization tool," said George Edwards, head of the Center for Presidential Studies at Texas A&M University. While Edwards said it is highly unlikely young people will swing the 2004 vote, he said they are the largest untapped political resource.

"I still dream of seeing student movements rise again," said France, 19. Last month, she distributed free brownies on Yale's Cross Campus lawn that read "The Doctor Is In," a reference to Dean's profession, and sold T-shirts that said, "Put A Different Yalie In The White House." Dean and Bush are Yale alumni.

Despite the large number of button-hawking, sign-painting "Deaniacs" and "Deanyboppers," many college students said they feel removed from the political process and are not ready to settle on a candidate just yet-not even one with an Instant Messenger account.

UConn sophomore Shawn Logue said he supports Dean. But he hasn't been moved to write a blog or join a GenDean group. In fact, the 19-year-old said he is still formulating his political opinions. "It takes quite a while to figure out what politicians stand for," Logue said. "And at this point, it's still possible for me to change my mind."