Young Obama backer enthused

He wasn’t old enough to vote in Tennessee’s Feb. 5 presidential primary, but that didn’t keep Seth Eichenthal from knocking on doors, making phone calls and digging into the political process.

“I personally made 200 phone calls,” said the Chattanooga School of the Arts and Sciences senior, who also is the high school coordinator in Tennessee for the campaign of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Sen. Obama is battling Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In his position, Mr. Eichenthal, 17, organizes Obama supporters in high schools around the state. He said students well below voting age — 15 or 16 — are getting involved.

Mr. Eichenthal said he will be old enough to vote by the general election in November, but first he is planning to sneak into Tennessee’s neighbor to the east to campaign before that state’s May 6 primary.

“I’m probably going to find my way into North Carolina within the next month,” he said.

Mr. Eichenthal hails from a political family. His father, David Eichenthal, served as a New York City government official before moving to Chattanooga to be former Mayor Bob Corker’s chief financial officer.

Daivd Eichenthal, now the head of the Chattanooga-based Community Research Council, said his son “was a good foot soldier” in the days leading up to Tennessee’s primary.

“I was thrilled he got excited about the Obama campaign,” he said.

Having voted for Mrs. Clinton during her 2000 run for the U.S. Senate, David Eichenthal said he supports Sen. Obama for president.

Seth Eichenthal said politicians’ unfulfilled promises inspired him to get involved in politics.

“(Sen. Obama) represents re-examining politics,” he said.

That message appeals to teens, many of whom only remember President Bush’s administration, Mr. Eichenthal said.

Sen. Obama’s campaign is not the only one trying to reach out to teens.

Emily Hawkins, a spokeswoman for Sen. Clinton, said the campaign has student support groups all over the country. A group called Teens for Clinton has chapters in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Texas and West Virginia, according to its Web site.

Likewise, Crystal Benton, a spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, said the McCain campaign is reaching out to students using social networking Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Students participated in phone banks in early primary states such as New Hampshire, she said.

As for what Seth Eichenthal wants to do after high school, the young political organizer is more focused on engineering than politics, his father said.

He is waiting to hear from colleges including Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Still, politics remain important to Seth Eichenthal right now, said his father.

One evening while Seth Eichenthal was talking on his cell phone, his dad interrupted him to ask a question. Seth waved him off.

“Dad,” he said, “I’m on a conference call.”