Eric Sedler

New Jerseyan Joe Colletti, the field director for Tom Kean, Jr. Senate race, is now working for John McCain in NewHampshire
Hillsborough Co., NH - Joe Colletti first shook the hand of Arizona Sen. John McCain in the Short Hills Hilton back in 2006, not knowing then that he would soon work for the old war hero nursing longtime presidential aspirations with a last chance at the prize.

Colletti was toiling for state Sen. Tom Kean, Jr., at the time and McCain had landed in Jersey to support Kean's challenge of Sen. Robert Menendez.

"Youth," McCain said when asked why he thought Kean would be a good addition to the U.S. Senate, and a little later, on his way into the banquet hall where he would mount a stage in front of a mostly Somerset and Morris County crowd, he met the then 24-year old Colletti.

One of the first of a core of Kean staffers Colletti had joined the campaign early - 15 months before Election Day. As the contest intensified, the U.S. Senate candidate dispatched Colletti to serve as field director for the campaign's central Jersey headquarters. That meant Colletti, who grew up in Linden and Warren, would be in charge of building political operations in Middlesex, Mercer, and Monmouth counties.

In an off-year election that generates ho hum enthusiasm even amongst politically aware adults, the idea of youngsters caring about legislative races seems far-fetched.

The common wisdom is that young people are, by and large, politically apathetic. If it’s hard to get a good youth turnout for a presidential election, then the chances of getting them out for state legislative races are virtually non-existent. But while many young people are too busy sending text messages to pick a candidate, campaigns also depend on young, true-believer volunteers and staffers to get out the vote.

Matt Mowers is one of those true-believers. The 18-year-old Rutgers freshman is the political director for Gerald Cardinale’s re-election campaign in the 39th district.