YOUNG DEMOCRATS PRESIDENT VISITS CAPE

Jay Parmley believes young voters could help Vice President Al Gore win the White House.

The 29-year-old Oklahoma man is taking that message to this year's battleground states as president of the Young Democrats of America.

Parmley and Young Democrats of Missouri President Raegan D. Buatte visited Cape Girardeau Tuesday to meet with leaders of the Southeast Missouri State University Young Democrats group.

Parmley, who directs a higher education center in Oklahoma City, Okla., is beginning a six-state tour of six hotly contested states Missouri, Ohio, New Mexico, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Young Democrats of America has a full-time youth coordinator in each of those states. Buatte is the youth coordinator in Missouri. She lives in Columbia, Mo.

"Our job as a party organization is to bring young people into the Democratic Party," Parmley said during a strategy session at Applebee's restaurant.

He said the Gore campaign is making a major effort to reach voters, ages 18 to 30.

Registered voters in that age group often don't vote, he said. YDA's goal and that of the Gore campaign is to register young people and convince them to vote.

Gore on Thursday plans to unveil his "Reality Check" campaign aimed at young voters.

Parmley thinks that could help Gore on Election Day. "This is going to be close," he said of the election.

How a person votes in his first three elections generally sets a trend for a lifetime, Parmley said. Eighty percent of the time, he said, the voter will identify with the party that he or she voted for in his or her first few elections.

Young voters are important to the Democratic Party. The party's bread and butter "Roosevelt Democrats" are an aging group, he said.

Parmley said the YDA hopes to educate voters on the issues. People who are informed on the issues are more likely to vote, he said.

Richard Vining is vice president of the Young Democrats at Southeast. Vining said his group is working with other student groups to get students registered to vote.

The national Rock the Vote organization will be holding an event this Thursday at Academic Terraces on the university campus. The event will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Two bands will perform.

Getting students registered is just half the battle, Parmley said. Getting them to vote is the harder task.