California Young Democrats Press Release
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Contacts: Claire Conlon, Executive Director, 916/595-3090, cconlon@youngdems.org


SACRAMENTO – The California Young Democrats (CYD), offended by Governor Schwarzenegger’s flippant remarks regarding his lack of stress about California’s budget situation, are demanding that the Governor grant all Californians access to his Jacuzzi while California's economy remains stalled due to his governance and the Republican legislators’ bargaining tactics.

In an interview published in Sunday’s New York Times, Governor Schwarzenegger made the following comments: "Someone else might walk out of here every day depressed, but I don't walk out of here depressed". Whatever happens, "I will sit down in my Jacuzzi tonight," he said. "I'm going to lay back with a stogie."

With California’s bond rating being downgraded, the budget deficit having risen by another 2 billion dollars to its current level of $26.3 billion, and a group of the biggest U.S. banks saying they will not accept California’s IOU’s after Friday, this is not the time for levity.

“We as young democrats are very disappointed in Governor Schwarzenegger’s actions and statements,” said Julie Lind, Political Director of the California Young Democrats. Lind continued, “If he’s not willing to come to the table when Democrats passed a balanced budget the least he could do is invite us to the Jacuzzi so we can have a moment of relaxation. Then he’d at least be doing something for the people.”

“Schwarzenegger’s demands include cuts that would obliterate social programs that help our neediest citizens survive,” said Alissa Ko, President of the California Young Democrats. “His comments in the New York Times make Californians feel that he neither acknowledges nor cares about the real human impact of his actions. With young people getting hit by raising costs and every state service being cut, Governor Schwarzenegger’s attitude is unbecoming of the office he was elected to.”

CYD is encouraging all of its members and anyone else who is worried about the state of California’s economy to take a few minutes to call the governor and express their disapproval of his obstinacy, in addition to requesting a moment of relief in the Governor’s hot tub.

CYD implores both political parties to work together to find a responsible solution sooner rather than later, one that assists those who need help the most, and one that does not continue to saddle our generation with further debt in the years to come.


The California Young Democrats (CYD) is the official youth arm of the California Democratic Party, comprised of progressive people ages 14-35. The California Young Democrats are committed to creating a bloc of young voters who will elect Democrats for an entire generation. Using proven peer to Peer campaign methods, Young Democrats have made significant differences in races all over California. Young Democrats in California work everyday to promote social justice, women's rights, peace and stability in the world, and many other progressive values.

Congratulations to the United States House of Representatives on passing LANDMARK legislation on Clean Energy, 219-212.

There is still much work to do in the Senate on this bill, and hopefully we can strengthen many aspects of the bill in the upcoming Senate debate.

Special thanks to California Congressmember and former CYD leader Henry Waxman, who shepherded this bill through Congress and made the compromises necessary to get the bill passed.

This is what HOPE and CHANGE look like!

One week from tomorrow, the California Young Democrats kick off our 2009 State Convention. It will be a weekend of training, special guests, important parties, and excitement!

Over 750 Young Democrats from around the state are signed up for the convention. It will be a time to reflect on our success in 2008 and get working on the 2010 election.

If you're not planning to be in Sacramento next weekend, we'll tell you soon how you can follow CYD's activities online, as well as through Twitter and Facebook.

The California Young Democrats would like to congratulate Virginia Governor Tim Kaine on becoming the next Chairman of the Democratic National Committee! We know from our colleagues in Virginia that he will be attentive to the youth vote and our issues in the coming years, and look forward to his leadership.

Now where do I start on all the adulation of Howard Dean as our chair for the past four years?

As someone who was inspired to work on my first Presidential race by Howard Dean in 2004 (along with a lot of CYD's leadership), we will look back very fondly on Dr. Dean's chairmanship.

When he said we ought to organize in all 50 states-including Alaska and Idaho-many thought he was wasting party resources. Yet on election night, he looked like a genius, as we had the organizing muscle to win a Senate race in Alaska and a congressional seat in Idaho. That's in addition to all the red states that parties strong enough to win seats for Democrats in places previously "off limits" to us.

So we thank you, Governor Dean, for your leadership in our party and wish you the best in your future endeavors.

Congratulations to everyone on an excellent 2008 election. Cheers to everyone continuing the hard work needed to change our country in 2009!

I'm here in the Stockton headquarters, where volunteers are pouring in, taking their assignments, and heading out into the streets to get out the Youth Vote and vote down Propositions 4 & 8.

In the 2004 election, the media blew it big time-they misreported the huge turnout of youth voters, who increased their numbers by 4.6 million over the 2000 election.  They said we didn't show up.

How did they screw that one up? By using a deceptive measure-the percentage of the electorate that were young.

Thanks to Mike Connery at Future Majority:

Common Mistakes (and Basic Facts) About the Youth Vote:

Some of these might be repetitive from above, but they bare repeating. Use these as a guide when reporting on young voter turnout on Tuesday night:

1) When reporting on youth participation, do not confuse "share of the electorate" with "turnout." Share of the electorate is a measure of the proportion of young voters who cast a ballot in relation to all other voters. Turnout is the percentage of all eligible young voters who cast a ballot. Share measures the influence of young voters within the electorate as a whole. Turnout tells us whether or not more young people showed up at the polls. Please do not confuse them.

2) It is possible for turnout to rise, while share of the electorate remains steady. Indeed, this is exactly what happened in 2004. Young voter turnout (18 - 29) increased by 9 percentage points from 40 to 49% (an increase of about 4.3 million votes). However, young voter's share of the electorate remained steady at 17%.

3) Young voters can only be held accountable for their own actions, not those of the entire electorate. If the youth vote's share of the electorate holds steady from 2004 to 2008, that will mean that older voters also went to the polls in higher numbers. Young voters cannot be held accountable for that. As such, turnout and the hard number of votes are the only accurate measure to gauge the success of efforts to get out young voters.

4) Rising youth turnout is a trend, not a fad tied to the popularity of Senator Obama. Contrary to conventional wisdom, or media reports from 2004, Obama's campaign is not solely responsible for higher youth turnout, though it has played a crucial role during this election cycle. Youth turnout began to rise in 2004, when youth it jumped by 9 percentage points, from 40 to 49%, and 4.3 million more young voters cast a ballot than in 2000. This trend continued in 2006, which saw the first increase in young voter turnout during a midterm election since the 1980s. It reached a new height in early 2008 when youth turnout in the primaries was double that from 2000, the last comparable year. In some states, youth turnout in the primaries was triple or quadruple that of previous years.

5) The margin of victory among young voters may be just as important as the overall increase in youth turnout. In 2004, 20 million young voters cast a ballot, with 54% selecting John Kerry. That gave Kerry an advantage of 1.6 million votes over President Bush among young voters. This year, if 22 million young voters cast ballots and 62% choosing Obama vs. 38% for McCain (numbers roughly found in most polling), that would give Senator Obama an advantage of 5.28 million votes.

6) Youth turnout is about access, not apathy. When young people are registered to vote - they turn out. According to the US Census, 81.6% of all registered young voters actually cast a ballot in 2004. That is on par with other portions of electorate. The more campaigns and independent organizations work to register young voters, and the easier we make the registration process, the higher youth turnout will be.

7) Regardless of youth turnout on Tuesday, young voters have already played a crucial and decisive role in this contest. In the Iowa Democratic caucuses, young voter turnout tripled and their share of caucus-goers was equal to that of the "reliable" 65+ demographic. Obama won the support of 60% of Iowa's youth, catapulting him to the front of the Democratic pack. Similar levels of support from youth in the following primaries and caucuses were the foundation of Obama's primary success.

Please take a moment to let this sink in, especially the Nay-Sayers who are already spreading the seeds of doubt to try stopping the Young Voter Revolution here in California.

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.