SEATTLE, Oct. 5 — Ryan Simpkins, a 25-year-old producer on the reality television series "Big Brother," gave up on politics back in student government. Yet he has donated $300, so far, to Howard Dean's presidential campaign, monitors its Web sites daily and has lately been luring peers to their first political rallies.
Brady Carlson, 27, a graduate student who lives in Newmarket, N.H., was quickly bored when he tried to work on previous political campaigns but found his niche in Dr. Dean's.
"I don't have any money, I hate telemarketing, and I'm not comfortable reading a prepared script on the doorstep of a bunch of strangers, so they had little use for me," Mr. Carlson said, recalling his previous campaign involvement.
For Dr. Dean, Mr. Carlson has, on his own, produced a radio spot, designed a Web page and raised $403.17 through Satire for Dean, posting a joke for every donation.
"I'm doing things that other campaigns didn't want me to do," he said, "and because of that, I'm willing to help out with the phone calls and the contributions, too."
They call themselves Generation Dean, legions of hip young people who have helped catapult Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont, into the top tier of the crowded Democratic presidential field, despite their age group's notorious apathy toward and alienation from electoral politics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/07/politics/campaigns/07DEAN.html?pagewanted=1The jaded Ms Wilgren appears to be warming.