Candidates’ ads directed at youth

Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry tried to step up his
appeal to young voters by taking out ads in 20 college newspapers
across the country in late April as a part of his youth voter
outreach campaign.

Kerry’s ad, brokered by Vaward Communications, a college
media advertising company, was placed in university publications at
Harvard, Yale, Duke, Columbia, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis and
others.

The ad, which also appeared in the Daily Bruin, urged students
to vote for him and to volunteer for and contribute to his
campaign.

National Media Ads, the Bush-Cheney campaign’s media
advertising company, said it has not placed ads in college
newspapers. So far, the advertising strategy comprises solely TV
and radio ads.

Rebecca Colgate, Vaward Communications’ sales
representative for the Kerry campaign, said she believes the Kerry
advertising team selected the 20 universities based on the degree
of political awareness on the campuses. The Kerry campaign gave
Colgate a budget range and ordered the ads.

Ad costs vary from campus to campus. At the Daily Bruin, the
typical rate for a full-page black-and-white ad is $1,500.

This is the first time the Kerry campaign is advertising in
college newspapers, Colgate said. Whether more ads will be placed
depends on the college campaign’s success.

“If they see a larger turnout, then yes, they’ll
definitely do some more. The ad just ran recently so they’re
waiting to see,” Colgate said.

Laura Capps, a regional spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign, said
Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, is trying to get college-age
voters involved by touring campuses.

Kerry went on a weeklong college campaign last month, which
ended on April 16 with a Bon Jovi concert at the University of
Pittsburgh. With youth-oriented events like concerts, Kerry’s
campaign appears to be reaching out to the college-age voting
contingency.

But the Kerry campaign is not alone in its student voter
outreach ““ the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign has also been
trying to capture the youth vote.

The Bush-Cheney ’04 campaign launched its youth outreach
efforts last November with Kickoff ’04 Bush. Students for
Bush volunteers recruited volunteers at 15 college football games
across the country.

In March, the campaign launched the “Students for
Bush” Web site to garner student volunteers. Students for
Bush chairpersons have coordinated efforts on over 600 campuses,
including UCLA, in 43 states. There are now more than 65,000 young
Bush volunteers nationwide.

“It’s not a coincidence that our first coalition Web
site is for Students for Bush,” said Sharon Castillo, a
spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Likewise, the Kerry campaign also has Web sites devoted to
students, complete with weblogs and campus organizations such as
Students for Kerry.

Young celebrity sponsors like Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge and
the rock band, Guster, round out Kerry’s youth campaign.

Kerry may be trying to draw from the following of former
Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean, who acquired a large
youth following through similar grassroots mediums like the
Internet before his popularity waned.

“Certainly, Gov. Dean reinvigorated young voters, but we
also had a strong student and young voter component … and a lot
of Dean supporters are now helping our campaign,” Capps
said.

Matthew Baum, a UCLA political science professor, said by
targeting the students through non-traditional means like the
Internet, candidates have a better chance of relaying information
to young voters.

As both campaigns engage in the battle to control the White
House, it remains to be seen whether their respective youth voter
outreach campaigns will have a significant impact.

“It’s not totally clear ““ Clinton and Gore did
a lot of this and a very small percentage of young voters actually
voted. I think a lot has to do with the issues of the election year
that are relevant to the youth. If there are (such issues), there
is the possibility that the candidate will actually have a
chance” with the youth vote, Baum said.

This year, both campaigns seem to believe that youth turnout is
on the upswing.

“We’ve been doing youth outreach for a while. … We
won in Iowa and New Hampshire (Democratic primaries) because of the
large student and young voter turnout,” said Capps of the
Kerry campaign.

Bush-Cheney’s Castillo said she believes mobilizing young
volunteers and bringing in more supporters will play a key role in
this year’s election, which many are projecting will be a
tight race.

“It is one of our priorities that we’re reaching out
to the young voters since this is going to be a close
election,” Castillo said.

This election year, issues like the war in Iraq could create
more youth awareness.

“I think war is a big salient issue. … Potentially,
we’ve seen substantial involvement of college youth this year
““ there was a tremendous turnout among the 18- to
30-year-olds in the Democratic primaries. Clearly, all of this
effort has had some effect this year,” Baum said.