Kos - Will work for Rice?

When I've been in Oklahoma City to visit family and friends for the past several weeks I always stop by and put in a few hours with Andrew Rice's campaign. Sometimes simply because he's another heartland democrat who needs help and has the volunteer mechanism in place to utilize me - and sometimes simply because he's a young democrat who is running for office.

So this week I heard about a rally with the OU YD's that was in part a response to a comment made by Markos (of the dailykos) about Rice's Senate race. I knew then, that I needed to hop in the car and make the schlep to Norman, Oklahoma to support both Andrew and young people. And what I found was astounding.

Neither rain nor sleet nor cold will stop the Oklahoma Young Democrats. Many braved the unexpected weather to hear State Senator Andrew Rice talk about why he is running for US Senate and compound the myth that young people in Oklahoma are less interested.

In the last few weeks young people have seen some serious hatin' going on with Thomas Friedman we saw a serious slam. And this week'sOklahoma Gazette did a huge profile on Rice where Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos blog, was asked to comment on the race.

“Inhofe is a national joke. He is very much a top-tier villain, somebody who could be easy to run against from a national perspective,” Moulitsas said. “(But) I wouldn’t even say it’s a second tier race for us. It’s a third-tier race.”

To climb the ladder, Rice will have to prove he can pull in $25 checks from rural Oklahomans and motivate college students to knock on doors for him.

“If he can do that, this race merits attention. If he can’t do that, then this isn’t going to be much of a race,” Moulitsas said.

Well get ready because the OU Dems have something to prove.

Andrea Christman president of OU YD’s hit hard against Kos

“They always underestimate red states. And certainly the ability and passion that many young people have in changing our world.”

The embarrassment of Inhofe was one of the motivations for Tyler Lusher who attended the event on Monday. I spoke to him over cookies and cider provided by the campaign to help warm up the dampened students.

“I’m here because Andrew Rice has a chance to change the way Oklahoma politics operates” Tyler began. “He can really give us a better name by getting Inhofe out the Senate”

Rice fielded thoughtful and insightful questions from the young audience that proved that young people are anything but ill informed. The one that stuck me the most was the way in which he answered the typical Heartland question that every political candidate from city council to President gets. The “morality” question.

A young woman, after Rice spoke of his passion to serve people and how his faith led him on specific issues or how it motivates him. If I wanted to be a minister I could have been, but i decided instead to be a public servant...to go into public service, Rice said.

Rice began his career working with humanitarian organizations in India and throughout southeast Asia. But it wasn’t until his brother’s death in the twin towers on 9-11 that he began learning more about policy.

“I don’t talk about David to get sympathy, I mention it because it was a wake-up call for me,” he told the audience. “That was when I became political. That’s when I started asking questions about our security.

Rice’s youth is another thing that connects well with supporters particularly the ones at OU. He pushes Friedman’s old anti-technology prospective aside and agrees that his campaign will also utilize these new technologies to get younger voters to participate and be more engaged.

“We really try to create an opportunity for people (in the campaign) to step in and feel power. Its not all dictated by us, so finding some ways for them to come in and have some agency.... We’re going to play around with some ideas, I think using the phenomena of Facebook as a way to challenge people over time to both register and deliver with a vote a certain number of people maybe, you know have a challenge.”

Rice calls his youth an “asset” to his campaign and chastises Inhofe as another career politician who is “stuck in his ways” and “beholden to special interest.” He goes on to say that Oklahoma needs a “fresh perspective” and is eager to provide that. See more of a post lecture interview here

Christman agrees that Rice’s youth is an asset,

“With him we get a win/win deal. Andrew can get young people to get out and vote and we get an actual young democrat elected to office. Best of both worlds!”

Amanda Ewing past president of the OU Dems and current legal council for the OKYD’s also came back to school to lend her support of the YD’s and of Rice

“as an OU alum it’s exciting to see young activists eager to step up and get Andrew elected. As you can see from the questions, they are smart and prepared to fight for issues that benefit them and help Oklahoma.”

Ally Assiter – Rice committee chair of OU is ready to lead efforts to deliver the youth vote on campus

“I think this is a vital election year and students need to get out and vote!” she said with enthusiasm.

Ally along with campaign staff collected an impressive and hefty stack of volunteer pledge cards for people who are prepared to knock doors, make calls, and do whatever it takes proving to Markos that Oklahoma's red-state politics might not be first tier to him but it is to them.

I was motivated by Rice and by the young people I saw in attendance. We have spent the last several weeks talking about Friedman's view and proving with numbers and statistics that his ideology was poorly researched and clearly inaccurate - but seeing an audience of people ready to step up was the real-world action that backed up those numbers and I was proud (in a non-condescending way) of them, the cause, and each of us who advocate on behalf of young people who deserve a seat at any campaign table not just the younger candidates.