GOO AARON LYLES!!!!!!

Hey this is a little piece from the Richmond Times Dispatch about the radest kid on the block. Check it out!!!

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By OLYMPIA MEOLA
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Aaron Lyles canvassed for Chap Petersen when the Democrat ran for lieutenant governor in 2005 and made calls on behalf of Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. Despite poor weather and a head cold, he worked the polls in 2006 for Jim Webb's Senate race.
He recently created a Roanoke Valley chapter of the Young Democrats. He serves as a deputy field director for the Democratic candidate in the 6th Congressional District, and he hopes to place his own name on the 2010 ballot for Vinton's Town Council.
And somewhere in there, he wants a driver's license. That is, after all, highly important when you're 16 years old.
The 2008 presidential election -- with the historic candidacies of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton -- has been credited with spurring more young voters, and soon-to-be-voters such as Lyles, into action.
But local political observers and strategists say younger voters have been more involved in recent years.
On Virginia's streets, teens, college students and young professionals are pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, cold calling. They're smart, passionate, energetic and fill the ranks in state and local campaigns and political clubs. And this year, they're expected to have more company.
In Virginia's Feb. 12 presidential primary, 187,682 voters ages 17 to 29 -- 16 percent -- went to the polls, according to The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement.
A total of 134,968 voters ages 17-29 cast ballots in the Virginia's 2008 Democratic presidential primary, compared with 31,698 voters ages 18-29 who voted in the state's 2004 Democratic primary.
In Virginia's 2008 Republican presidential primary, 52,714 voters ages 17-29 cast ballots. In the previous contested GOP primary, in 2000, 66,409 voters ages 18-29 voted.
Obama gets glory for inspiring the youth vote, but it's a progression that started in 2004, says Daniel J. Palazzolo, political-science professor at the University of Richmond.
Young voters also played a large role in the 2006 midterm elections driven primarily by issues of import to younger voters, including the economy and the war in Iraq, and concentrated on get-out-the-vote movements.
In 2008, young voters are becoming more active generally for the same three reasons other people vote: the election is competitive, the issues attract them and a campaign actively seeks their vote, Palazzolo said.
"Now you throw Obama into the mix and you get an acceleration of a trend that was already under way," Palazzolo said. "The biggest mistake you could make right now is someone saying it's all about Obama. Not all -- part, for sure. But he didn't start the process."
Jesse Ferguson, 27, worked for an organization encouraging young voters to participate before he joined Del. Brian J. Moran's camp. Half of the Alexandria Democrat's office staff is younger than 30.
Ferguson said young-voter numbers have been building. "I think it's gong to be far greater in 2008 then we've ever seen before for the same reasons it started to grow in 2005 and 2006. The candidates are talking about issues that affect young voters, and they're concerned about the direction the president is taking the country."
A February 2008 report about young-voter registration and turnout trends, released by CIRCLE and Rock the Vote, projects that young adults are on track to show up in strong numbers this year based on polling that showed that roughly three-quarters of young people were already following the presidential election in fall 2007.
Republican Whitney Duff, 28, an Alexandria resident, has worked on political campaigns for seven years, from stuffing envelopes to knocking on doors. She said the local Republican Party is always looking to get more young people involved, though she said some tend to stereotype Republicans as "old, stuffy."
"It's always hard to get young people involved," she said. "You have to make them understand why it makes a difference. Why national security matters to them on a daily basis. When you're young you say, 'I'm invincible.'"
"Sheer boredom" initially got Lyles involved in politics. In the summer of 2004, he had little to occupy his time, and his mother suggested he work on President Bush's re-election campaign. When his mother called the local campaign post, Lyles said, they politely declined the offer of help.
"I was 12 at the time, and they didn't know what kind of work to give a kid. The Democrats said 'Yeah, OK, come in,'" he said.
Lyles believes other young people should become informed citizens and voters as soon as possible.
"Our very futures are at stake here," Lyles said. "There's just every reason to get involved. And if you don't get involved, you have no right to complain if things don't go your way."
Lyles now works for Sam Rasoul, who at the age of 26 is the presumed Democratic nominee for Congress in the 6th District.
Some of Rasoul's support comes from high school students, which the candidate welcomes. Even if they aren't old enough to vote, they want to get involved, Rasoul said, and volunteers like Lyles help with tedious work like canvassing.
Rasoul, a businessman whose parents moved to the United States from Palestine in the 1960s, faces Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, R-6th, who, at 55, is old enough to be his father. Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or omeola@timesdispatch.com.
Staff writer Chris Young contributed to this report."