It was the buzz: Last week
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
By Ben Cannon
Jackson Hole, Wyoming - A week before he was to graduate high school, Willie Neal was elected by the Wyoming Democratic party as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August.
He is one of 18 total delegates from Wyoming going to the national convention, seven of whom, like Neal, are pledged to support Barack Obama’s bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
Neal, 18, is a senior at Jackson Hole Community School, who said he grew up in a family with strong Democratic leanings.
Before he was old enough to vote, Neal volunteered for campaigns - first for Democrat Gary Trauner’s congressional bid, then for the Obama presidential campaign in its early phases.
Working with a state Obama campaign organizer, Neal encouraged people to caucus for the Illinois senator, trumpeting the candidate as a catalyst for change.
“A lot of people say he’s a candidate of a lifetime, but I can’t say that because it’s my first time voting,” he said.
Neal had to miss the Teton County Democratic caucus in early March - he was in Alaska for junior national Nordic skiing championships, where he placed 8th in the nation in one event. Anne Jorgensen of the county Democratic Party spoke at the county caucus on his behalf and Neal secured a delegacy for last Saturday’s statewide caucus held in the Snow King Center.
The state caucus, reenergized with a strong Obama following, saw dozens vying for spots as DNC delegates, many of them soliciting support with letter writing campaigns. Neal used a different approach to get his name out.
Estimating a letter campaign would cost him about 50 cents per letter for printing and postage, the high school senior instead decided to hand out bite-size Kit-Kat candy bars, with attached stickers reading “I support Willie Neal.”
Democrat Gary Trauner, who has announced he would again seek Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat, wore one of the stickers when he gave his keynote address, Neal said.
“I thought we should send a young person,” Neal said. “The Democratic Party in Wyoming had been dormant, and unless you involve youth in the process, it’s going to peter off.”
In fact, the three allotted male delegates from Wyoming, who all pledged support to the Obama nomination, are under the age of 21.
Natalie Wyeth, a spokeswoman for the National Democratic Convention Committee, said many states have adopted goals to get more youth representation at this year’s convention.
Neal said he’s not yet sure how he will pay the travel and lodging expenses for the trip to the late August convention, but said he might contact MTV to see if they would be interested in sponsoring him as a kind of special correspondent.
After the Democratic National Convention, Neal will go to Sun Valley, Idaho, to ski race and train with an Olympic development team before starting his freshman year at Vermont’s Middlebury College, where he plans to major in Middle Eastern studies.
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It was the buzz: Last week | Planet JH News Article: General News
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