Morehead: ‘This is the year things change’

Middletown resident Matthew Morehead is the chairman of the Monmouth County Bayshore Young Democrats. According to Morehead, his organization, which includes 50 young people from the Brookdale Community College Democratic Club, numbers 150 people.

“The youth vote is the vote of this year, and I think the youth will make it known they do not like what has been going on in Washington, or in Monmouth County,” Morehead said.

Morehead said his group and the Brookdale Young Democrats have been organizing for this year’s election for over a year.

“This year the Bayshore Young Democrats and the Brookdale Democrats helped register more than 1,000 people to vote,” Morehead said.

While the youth vote has often been courted in previous years, many experts say it has never been fully realized nationally, and especially not locally. “The difference this year is that it is not indicator where youth is showing up, but many of them. Even early polls in other states show a record youth turnout,” Morehead said.

Morehead credits the candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president. “There are also the issues of the war, college tuition, housing and the job market that are compelling young people to do their part in deciding America’s future,” he said.

Morehead said he predicts Obama will win the presidency, that there will be major Democratic gains in the U.S. Senate and Congress, and he expressed great confidence in the Democratic ticket in Monmouth County.

“I think this is the year when things change,” Morehead said.