Winning the GOP nomination could cost Romney the youth vote, oval office

One can only hope that Mitt Romney's comments about young support for incumbent President Barack Obama will mean a re-tooling of his campaign to focus on millennial issues.

But don't hold you breath.

To his credit, Romney is winning big right now — not only in the delegate count but also in terms of the number of young voters punching his name on the ballot.

According to New York Times exit polls, Romney won nearly every demographic in Illinois, and carried 41% of the youth vote.

But the enthusiasm lack among GOP voters has been well documented, especially among millennials. In order to mobilize the base, Romney will have to do a handful of things.

1. Stop moving to the right.

While other GOP candidates such as Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have hammered Romney for being a Massachusetts moderate, Romney must remember that his national electability comes from his ability to appeal to independent voters who may be disenfranchised by the unfilled promises of Obama's 2008 campaign.

The further right he moves, the more he turns those voters off.

2. Refocus the message on young voters.

Gas prices, student loan debt, social justice issues (such as the Trayvon Martin case currently engulfing the attention of much of the country) — all things that matter to young voters, and all things we've yet to hear Romney discuss. If Romney wants to mobilize the GOP youth base, he'll have to aggressively court them. Right now, he hasn't even asked them out on the first date.

3. Bring Paulites into the fold.

Lost in the recent election coverage has been any mention of the fourth GOP candidate: Ron Paul. Now, there's a legitimate reason for that, since he's polling less than 10 percent nationally and has yet to win a single state (even in the caucus states his campaign bragged it could win).

But with that said, no candidate has had a more excited base of support or more visible and vocal young backers than Dr. Paul. Without mobilizing the libertarian arm of the party, Romney has absolutely no chance — pending another nationwide financial crisis — to defeat Obama in November.

Alexander, got anything you'd add to the list?

On eve of Ill. primary, Romney 'doesn't see how anyone who is a young person could vote for a Democrat'

Tomorrow is a make-or-break contest for Governor Romney, but not in the conventional sense.

If he wins Illinois, and if he wins big, it will catapult him to near nominee status. It will provide the boost of momentum he seeks to deliver a penultimate, if final, blow to Senator Santorum's delegate odds.

As for the youth voter this spring: The increasing gas prices will never rival soaring tuition costs as the chief concern of 18-25 year old voters. However, older millennials, mid-to-late twentysomethings who don't shoulder college debt, may view the dollar tag at the pump their #1 issue. Either way you frame it, jobless or tangled in debt, "it's the economy, stupid," for Gen Y.

Mitt Romney, perhaps inadvertently, created headlines yesterday when he said he "doesn't see how anyone who is a young person could vote for a Democrat." It was Romney's only verbal courtship of young voters targeted at general election, and it hardly had the muster of substantiation.

However, his view is not totally inconsistent with young people's disappointment with President Obama for not aggressively enough fighting on their behalf...and on their issues. In the vast majority of youth polls, college voters are unhappy with Obama's performance on at least one issue (i.e.: the environment or gay rights).

Given deepening red ink and fiscal woes, some youth remain generally disenchanted with President Obama, especially on college costs. A modest Pell Grant expansion has not done wonders for the first-time voter demographic's economic footing.  

However, Romney, to date, has done little, if anything, to persuade the young voter why they would vote for a Republican instead. Romney and his current brand of Republicanism has only distanced young people from potentially voting for a Republican this fall.

The party's cycle has been a vicious one, not only for the exhausted and sometimes self-destructing candidates, but for the young voter who is completely turned off, whether it's talk of banning Planned Parenthood or dismissive attitudes toward college aspirations.

At the end of the day, for most young voters, the President is not that bad after all. He brought troops home from Iraq, extended health insurance coverage to more young Americans, invested in record education, innovation and infrastructure projects via stimulus and added two pro-choice vigorous intellectual women to the Supreme Court. Those are still promises kept, if you ask most college students or higher-educated 18-29 millennials, even if they don't cure the economic ills plaguing many of them.  

So, Wesley, can you see how anyone who is a young person could vote for a Republican?