College Democrats’ convention overlaps national gathering

BOSTON – John Woods, a freshman at the University of Maine at Farmington, remembers waving a Bush-Cheney campaign sign on a street corner on Election Day 2000 when he was 14.

“Since my father was supporting Bush, it just seemed natural for me to fall in line and support Bush as well,” said Woods of Winslow, Maine. But as he grew older and became more involved in politics, his party affiliation changed.

Woods is now one of more than 1,000 students participating in the College Democrats of America convention, which began on Saturday in Boston and runs until Tuesday, coinciding for a couple of days with the Democratic National Convention. Fifteen of the young Democrats hail from Maine universities.

Woods said that after the Nov. 7, 2000, election, he began to take a closer look at his own views and opinions and discovered “they were liberal.”

When Woods told his father he might even run for office as a Democrat someday, his dad took it in stride, telling his son he would donate to his campaign, though it would mean donating to a Democrat for the first time.

College Democrats of America spokesman Aaron Thompson says the number of college-aged Democrats is returning to the same “high point” it enjoyed during the 1992 presidential election. Organizers say this convention is the largest ever for college Democrats and reflects the importance of the young vote in the coming election.

Campaign training seminars are scheduled along with programs on such issues as civil rights and the war in Iraq. Speeches and events with top officials from the Democratic National Committee, including Chairman Terry McAuliffe, also are scheduled.

Entertainers who are popular among college students, such as John Stewart of “The Daily Show,” also are making appearances.

Alex Cornell du Houx, president of the College Democrats of Maine and a student at Bowdoin College, said that longer-term issues would have a profound effect on younger voters.

“Like if Social Security goes bust, it’s not going to go bust within the next 20 years,” he said. “It will go bust when we go to collect it.”