It’s not secret that the “youthquake” will be critical to this fall’s presidential election. Democrats have been reaching out aggressively to voters between the ages of 18-30. “Obamamania” is not an accident: the DNC has dialed into the passion and organizational skills of young voters in caucus state after caucus state.

Meanwhile, the GOP seems to have fallen off the youth wagon. It doesn’t seem sexy, after all, to be a college-age conservative.

But that might be changing.

Peter Cowman heads up MoveRed.org, an initiative launched last year by the King County Republican Party.

This is from their site:

MoveRed.org is the youth coalition (ages 16-28) of the King County Republican Party. We are a group of students and young professionals with a common belief in limited government, family values and personal responsibility. We exist to promote increased Republican activism among a younger segment of the population that is often left out of the political process. Republicans in King County have been silent too long. It’s time for a (R)esurgence led by young people with strong convictions and values; youth who bring commonsense solutions to problems created by the King County establishment.

I talked to Cowman yesterday about MoveRed; an ex-Marine and now a UW political science student, Cowman said he’s passionate about getting younger conservatives plugged into the party.
 
“A lot of things the party does are not things an 18- or a 19- or a 24-year old is gung-ho about attending, or can afford,” he said.

To reach out to his peers, Cowman and his fellow volunteers at King County GOP HQ have launched a Web site and coordinate meet-ups with local GOP stars like Dino Rossi. They have their own YouTube channel and are trying to rev things up this summer as the conclusion of important gubernatorial and congressional races (particularly in the 8th) loom ever closer.

“It’s a big push to get things going,” he said.

For more on Cowman’s efforts, check out my story on MoveRed next week here on the blog.