UNM's College Democrats have been thrust into the national spotlight.
A film crew for the PBS show "Now with Bill Moyers" followed the group's activities this week for a documentary set to air Oct. 3.
PBS is only one of three major news organizations that have taken an interest in the UNM College Democrats this summer, said Kelly Seibert, a student organizer for Rep. Tom Udall's campaign.
NPR and Al Jazeera visited campus to focus on student voters who will contribute to the 2008 elections, Seibert said.
"All summer we've been at the new student orientation registering voters," she said. "We could register between 20 and 70 people in one hour, which is pretty amazing."
PBS field producer Brian Epstein said New Mexico is an important state for the media to focus on because of its youth and Hispanic voters.
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Epstein said the latest show will examine how presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain bring in new voters and how these voters will decide New Mexico's five electoral votes.
"Where the popular vote goes, New Mexico goes," Epstein said. "That's what everyone says. Whether it's a couple thousand votes between Democrats and Republicans - I think in the last election Kerry and Bush were the closest here than any of the other states in the nation. So, it's an exciting state. These five electoral votes can swing the whole country."
Lee Drake, president of the College Democrats, said youth activism - specifically related to the Obama campaign - has generated national interest in his group.
"The Obama campaign has done an incredible amount of work with youth activism," Drake said. "In fact, many key primaries say that Obama wouldn't be the key candidate if it weren't for his reaching out to the youth vote. That was basically the reason that he was able to score such narrow victories over Hillary Clinton in the East and such wide-margin victories over Hillary Clinton in the West."
Epstein said New Mexico can be viewed as a harbinger of where the whole country may go.
"I was talking to the Democrats on campus, and they mentioned that there are 30,000 people on this campus," he said. "Much less than that - I think there were only about 3,000 votes - in this state separated Kerry and Bush last time. So, this campus could swing the election. It's an exciting place to be."
Epstein said his crew will follow the UNM College Democrats until Saturday and then relocate to Anthony, N.M., to continue studying the Hispanic vote.
