The music at the Barking Dog Club in Bethesda was loud, the beer was flowing, and the atmosphere was lively. It was the perfect night for a party, but a better night for a political fund-raiser.
On Tuesday, a group of young Democrats, New Generation Montgomery PAC, held its third fund-raiser aimed at voters under 30. With the promise of drink specials, giveaways and networking opportunities, organizers filled the second floor of the bar, but more importantly, they identified a new group of activists.
The group is just one of Montgomery County’s newest line of political power groups: political action committees aimed at and created by young people. With 2006 being one of the state’s and the county’s most important elections, young people could play a major role in determining any number of races.
For the New Generation group, young means under 40. In fact, in races where candidates are older, the group does not even issue an endorsement.
But endorsements are a minor part of New Generation’s work. Its main goals are increasing voter turnout, supporting candidates and doing the party’s basic organizing work.
‘‘Most of the young people in this county are already politically informed, New Generation gives them a way to transform that information into action,” said Tom Manatos, 26, the PAC’s treasurer.
Encouraging young activists is not unique to Democrats by any means.
The Young Republicans of Montgomery County, started in the 1980s for Republicans under 40, focuses on party support, but so far does not recruit candidates from its membership or contribute to individual campaigns.
‘‘For the upcoming elections, we want our party to know that we are the ones that invest the shoe leather,” said Rachael Gingrich, 26, president of the 70-member group. ‘‘We’re not just gofers, we can also be go-to’s.”
In addition to Gingrich’s group, the state GOP also boasts Teenage Republicans and College Republicans.
Like the young Dems and Reps, the College Reps are found on most campuses of state colleges and universities. It plans to work on the U.S. Senate campaign of Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele and on Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s re-election, said state adviser Daniel Zubairi, 29, who is running for Congress in the 8th District.
With the Green Party, where the average age of active members is in the 30s, youth is implied.
Although the party does not have a separate PAC for young voters, 90 percent of its new Montgomery County members were between 17 and 19 as of May, when the most recent count was taken.
‘‘We’re a value-based group, and that means a lot to young people,” said Joseph P. Horgan, 50, treasurer of Montgomery’s Green Party Central Committee. ‘‘Our four pillar values [social justice, ecology, nonviolence and grassroots democracy] are a large draw for young voters.”
The zeal of these groups is an extension of the youth voting bloc’s involvement in the 2004 presidential election. During that election, political activists brought out the heavy artillery to influence young voters: famous people. And it worked. More than 20 million people under age 30 ‘‘rocked the vote” according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement in College Park.
Can the youth PACs help sustain that level of interest in 2006?
That depends a lot on the war in Iraq, said Ronald W. Walters, government and politics professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.
‘‘A lot of the 2004 turnout was directly related to the war, and the large numbers brought a new dimension to the elections,” he said. ‘‘But it is already being said that if something is done to key down the war, like reducing the number of deployed soldiers to below 100,000, then the activity may be diminished.”
In Maryland, Walters said, he is not sure the youth PACs will make much difference in the state elections.
‘‘As with most groups like this, to really effect change, they have to raise a large sums of money, and usually these groups aren’t able to do this,” Walters said. ‘‘Turnout is the biggest asset of these groups to their parties.”