MADISON (WKOW) -- The president's campaign officials were in Madison Wednesday trying to re-energize young voters for his 2012 re-election campaign.
Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was at Memorial Union on the UW-Madison campus Wednesday night.
Since President Barack Obama won in Wisconsin in 2008, voters have elected a Republican governor and state legislature.
Gibbs admits that the political environment wasn't good for Democrats in 2010, but he says he's confident things are bouncing back in 2012.
In September of 2010, students swarmed UW-Madison's Library Mall to see President Obama.
The crowd on Wednesday with Gibbs at Memorial Union hardly compared.
The student summit aimed at recapturing the excitement of the 2008 campaign among young voters.
"Had you heard about this?" 27 News asked students on campus.
"No," said Albulena Konjuhi, a senior at UW-Madison.
But it might have had more to do with bad timing than bad politics.
"Next week I have four exams," Konjuhi said.
So, who's she voting for? "Barack Obama… definitely," Konjuhi said.
"I think he's the best candidate for the job based on the Republicans that are running against him," said Brin Riley, a sophomore at UW-Madison.
Democrats came to Madison Wednesday to make it known that voices of those young voters matter.
"You are a huge part of what got the president into the Oval Office," Gibbs told the audience.
Research shows 58 percent of 18-29 year olds voted in Wisconsin in the 2008 election. Democrats want a redo in 2012.
"If we do our job in making sure people understand how important it is, they'll do their job and show up to vote," Gibbs said.
Obama won the last election by 14 points in Wisconsin.
But since then, voters here gave Republicans control in the legislature and the governor's office.
Gibbs says if anything, that will help Democrats and Obama.
"[Voters] got way more than they bargained for. Huge cuts to education are not what anyone campaigned on but it was what the governing agenda was," he said.
The visit to Madison is just one of dozens of stops at college campuses around the country. The University of Michigan is the next stop on the tour.
Courtesy of the White House
