Even though Trojan Condoms launched its Evolve America tour last April, the safer sex campaign still made quite an appearance at both the Democratic and Republican Conventions. Calling it the "condomvention" Trojan's bus rolled into Denver, Colorado for a huge party the first night of the festivities.
With special guests including Ja Rule, Spike Lee, Alan Cumings, Josh Lucas, Tony Goldwyn, and Gloria Reuben, the party started with open bar and a little comedy.
The Evolve Tour targeted delegates, sexual health advocacy groups, policymakers and the presidential candidates themselves, urging them to acknowledge safer sex issues and get them on the political and social agendas.
"condom advertising restrictions on network prime time television in effect, and over a billion dollars spent on abstinence-only education that does not advocate condom use..."
There are two tours continuing from the conventions. Evolve Yourself and Involve Yourself plan to crisscross the country through the final months of the Presidential campaigns.
"Trojan Evolve is a call to action," says Jim Daniels, Vice President of Marketing for Church & Dwight Co Inc. "We're quite literally going city to city asking Americans to pledge to use a condom every time, sign a petition for change and help turn the tide on the unhealthy state of sexual health in this country."
See my video on the campaign below and take the pledge at TrojanCondoms.com
Today I met with many of the Young Republicans in the party who can't help but notice that the stereotypes of old, white, men are more valid than they would like. Leaders from the popular youth blog HipHopRepublican.com sat down with me to talk about opportunities that their party could harness if they were only willing to do the kind of outreach that Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama's campaign does.
The young people all have ambitions to achieve goals or run for office, but they are fighting an uphill battle in a tough establishment world. Their optimism reigns supreme, however, and the push mountains in efforts to move their party to something a little more mainstream.
I sat down with Princella Smith, a young woman who works for former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's new organization American Solutions. Ms. Smith got her start from a competition offered by MTV several years ago that allowed her to play a major roll in forums during the previous presidential election. She now serves as a major policy adviser and spokesperson for American Solutions - all before the age of 30. She is connected and personable. In passing I mentioned that I was hoping to get an interview with Michael Steele candidate for Lt. Governor in Maryland. I had seen his commercials years ago when he ran and enjoyed the ad which became known as the Puppy Kicker ad that I still find to be so outside the box and original.
Princella quickly dragged me over to what became known as Radio Row where all the talk news stations were poised to do interviews as politicians and prominent party people passed through the halls. Against the wall was Michael Steele doing a quick interview. Princella introduced us and quickly snapped a picture. I can safely say that it is the only picture of me with a Republican politician - luckily its one of the decent ones. See the full video of the interview here.
Morgan Thomas is still in collage but already works on three campaigns this year all while serving her duties on the national board of Young Republicans. She is clearly a bright and eager young woman who hopes to win a mayoral seat before she is 30 and eventually run for governor. This was her first convention and the nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin had excited and encouraged as a young female republican. See the full video of my interview with her here.
Claudio Simpkins told me that he frequently gets confused for Barack Obama, and with a beaming smile it isn't hard to understand why. From a broken home that had drugs and hardship bearing down on him it would have been easy for him to fall between the cracks of the system. Instead, Claudio rose to the challenge and is now at Harvard Law School. He has a deep passion to give back to his community with no real immediate enthusiasm about running for office. It doesn't stop him from having a little fun when people ask his friends "Wait... Is that? Is that him!?" See the full interview of him here.
Richard Ivory came up to my cafe table asking if we could share it because there weren't any others around. We introduced ourselves and I knew instantly that we were allies in the youth movement. Richard started HipHopRepublican in attempts to bring more youth to politics on his side of the partisan divide. Republicans aren't popular in New York City and Richard describes himself as a moderate who is heavily influenced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg whose campaign he worked on. After talking issues with Richard, I couldn't help think that in the Bible-Belt he would be a Democrat... but decided not to alienate him.
It was Richard that guided me to some of these most remarkable people that I met while at the RNC. A majority of the time I spent with Richard was with him shouting and running after passers by who he thought would be good for me to talk to.
Richard is up to his chin in hope for the youth movement to gain traction in the GOP. His connectivity and tenacity are honorable and unbelievable, but his friendliness and hope for his party's future is what brings people to him. Along with his friends and colleagues he hopes to bring the GOP into the new century where the party is more reflective of our country in race, in gender, and in age. It is with this kind of community Richard thinks they can sustain their party.
While I certainly don't agree with them on a lot of issues, if there's were the faces of the GOP it would be a lot more difficult for opposition to succeed. CE and Brett, the co-authors of the new book Why You're Wrong About the Right think, however, that the old white stereotype is not the reality. They see when looking at their friends. CE tells me she has a good time, goes out, parties, goes to ball games. She's not an old fuddy duddy like some of the delegates seen on the floor night after night. See the full interview with these two co-authors here.
She is clearly a strong, polished, and well educated young woman who remembers with clarity Bill Clinton's outreach at the MTV/Rock the Vote candidate forum in 1992 where the famous Boxer or Briefs question was asked. CE says the mere outreach by him was a huge step for a politician to make, and she's surprised that there haven't been any republicans since take on similar forms of outreach. The book presents photos and interviews with those who don't fit the traditional appearance of the GOP. Youthful and minority faces shine from the pages as the argument is presented that not everyone is old and white.
The others would say that its just most of them.
Embedded through the links above are the entire interviews of these remarkable young people, and below is my comprehensive clips and soundbites of their comments. Also see my interview with Armstrong Williams, conservative talk radio host about these topics. I'll continue to upload videos as I render them.
One event I was able to attend while at the Democratic National Convention was the HRC Concert Rock to Win featuring many performers including Kansas's own Melissa Etheridge, Cindy Lauper, frequent Kansas visitor Rufus Wainwright, Thelma Houston, and Margaret Cho.
The concert began with a short press conference where all agreed that young voters were essential to the election in November. Cindy Lauper said it was important for all people to vote, and that was a key component for her concert with the HRC as well as her national True Colors tour.
"Hopelessness comes out of helplessness. We put the tour together to give information to the people, because information is power, and I strongly believe that this nation was built on the power of the people."
Lauper's endorsement for Barack Obama was announced officially a few days prior to the Democratic National Convention.
"I believe we are at a crossroads and the next ten years will determine the future of this country. . . In particular, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is closer than ever to gaining full equality. We are teetering back and forth right now, and we need to act together to push us in the right direction. What we are asking for is only fair and right. We as a society, LGBT or straight, can show that civil rights are important and discrimination is wrong across the board through our vote. I believe by voting for Barack Obama we will do just that."
Melissa Etheridge agrees, and is frustrated by the mainstream media's focus on what she deems an imaginary rift in her party with regard to LGBT rights. Etheridge had previously asked Senator Hillary Clinton a tough question at the HRC's candidate forum this time last year. Etheridge said she felt "thrown under the bus" in the 1990's during the Clinton administration because of policies such as Don't Ask Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act both supported by the Clinton White House.
When asked about the rift Etheridge adamantly disagreed any existed with regard to the old Clinton administration or any rift from the primary candidates.
"I think it is a dangerous thing that the media has been focusing on 'The Divided Democratic Party: Hillary/Obama' I think that is not true. . . We had an awesome woman and an awesome man to pick from . . .and we came up with Barack Obama and we are all united behind that. And its a fallacy, its a lie, to put out there that we are not."
Lauper agreed encouraging people not to vote "insane."
"I would say, if you want to vote for your pocketbook, which maybe you might. Think of if it's been picked already."
The Human Rights Campaign also spoke briefly about their program that trains young activists, giving them organizing skills that can build a movement of LGBT sensitive political and non-profit workers across the country.
"Generation Equality (GenEQ) is the current crop of high school and college aged Americans. GenEQ is more supportive of queer equality than any generation ever - from widely supported issues like hospital visitation for same-sex couples and workplace fairness, all the way to full marriage equality. But achieving full equality takes action. HRC's GenEQ helps queer youth go from being out to being active by providing the skills, tools and knowledge to make full GLBT equality a reality.
I also caught Melissa Etheridge's performance on the DNC stage Thursday evening.
A new group Eklectyk Creative Media with Napalm Clique has produced an Obama hiphop video/mashup posted on youtube this week.
The video begins with an excerpt from Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech, and launches into a multimedia collection of the political candidate. It has strong video-editing and lots of creativity behind it. This video has truly raised the bar for independent Hip Hop artists. In this production, real Hip Hop is used as a vehicle to inspire youth to vote and become involved in national politics.
According to the release "the director of the video is at the Democratic Convention to spread the word about his project."
The DNCC Press Conference featuring Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, and Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte appeared on stage this morning to talk about the upcoming convention, its inclusiveness and upcoming excitment.
I was able to ask the panelists about how they are reaching out to young voters and young people at the convention this year. The video is of their answer.
Even though Trojan Condoms launched its Evolve America tour last April, the safer sex campaign still made quite an appearance at both the Democratic and Republican Conventions. Calling it the "condomvention" Trojan's bus rolled into Denver, Colorado for a huge party the first night of the festivities.
Lauper's endorsement for Barack Obama was announced officially a few days prior to the Democratic National Convention. 
When asked about the rift Etheridge adamantly disagreed any existed with regard to the old Clinton administration or any rift from the primary candidates. 
