Hillary hires a PIO activist to win youth demographic

WASHINGTON: At 74, he's one of the oldest candidates to have run for the White House, and had he been elected, he would have been the oldest US president to take office. Remarkably, he attracted more support from the young (below 30) than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump put together — a staggering 71% in a two-vote race, which kept him in the nomination hunt long after it became clear he wouldn't make the cut.
Clearly recognising the demographic dividend that Bernie Sanders reaped from the youth, Hillary Clinton's campaign on Thursday moved swiftly to hire a key student organiser from his campaign, hours after President Barack Obama virtually extinguished his run for the White House by endorsing his former secretary of state. In a system where campaigns tap organising talent from inner-party rivals they have worsted, Kunoor Ojha, an Indian-American youth activist from Illinois, has become Clinton's first major hire from the Sanders campaign.
Ojha will serve as the Clinton campaign's national institute of Technology, Ojha began her political activism as a field organiser on `Obama for America' campaign in Chicago in 2011, and worked in various state level campaigns before joining the Sanders bandwagon in 2015.
The campaign's outreach to students, fuelled primarily by the pledge to make college tuition free, saw America's youth flock to him. Early in the race, he was beating Clinton 84-14 among Democrats under 29; even in the 30-44 demographic, he had a 21% lead. It was only in the 45-64 age group that Clinton retrieved ground (58-35), increasing it to 6926 in the 65+ age group.
Now the Clinton campaign is moving quickly to ensure that the Sanders' youth brigade remains firmly in the Democratic fold. Although there is little danger of them bolting to the Trump camp -a Harvard Institute of Politics poll earlier this year found 61% of voters under 30 would back Clinton, compared to 25% for Trump in a two-way race -they want to ensure a high youth turnout.
That's where Ojha comes in. She has plenty of experience in this area, having worked as a field director for political campaigns tasked organising volunteers and ensuring Election Day turn out. Of course, it will need a lot more to win over the youth, many of whom believe Hillary Clinton is part of the "establishment" regardless of political colours -"a milque-toast neo-liberal" in the words of one Sanders' supporter. Many of them are in fact disappointed with President Obama. A Sanders rally in Washington DC even after Obama virtually asked him to stand down by endorsing Hillary Clinton attracted a large and passionate crowd waving anti-war and anti-student placards.
Sanders made no mention of his meeting with President Obama or Hillary Clinton at the rally. He still intends to contest the last primary in Washington DC next week, cocking a snook at the Obama Clinton clique.