MARIJUANA INITIATIVE BACKERS HUFF, PUFF AFTER CAMPUS VOTERS

He's got long hair, is wearing a black cowboy hat, and the word
"wasted" in gleaming silver makes up the belt buckle holding up
tattered jeans.

And yet, Kevin Blewitt - yes, his real name - said he's not sure which
way he leans on Amendment 44, the statewide ballot measure attempting
to make possession of an ounce of marijuana for those over 21 legal.

The anthropology student at the University of Northern Colorado said
he grew up under the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, the
federally-funded anti-drug program that preached to children in
schools the risks of marijuana, cocaine and alcohol. Until he started
college, he was "pretty anti-drug usage" himself.

He's 21 and he's exactly the kind of voter the pot campaign is hoping
will turn out in force Nov. 7.

"I've been pretty back-and-forth on the issue," Blewitt admitted.
"Right now, I guess I think it's a good thing."

Blewitt was one of 25 registered to vote Thursday at the table outside
McKee Hall set up by the Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation.
Today is the last day to register to vote.

For weeks, SAFER - the driving force behind Amendment 44 - has been
showing up on college campuses registering students to vote. According
to Mason Tvert, the campaign director, it's part of a concerted effort
to target younger voters who, he said, are ignored and could be a big
factor in the election.

"There is no question we're going after them," Tvert said. "We're not
relying solely on them, but they're very, very important."

The campaign has also been using means that appeal to younger voters -
blogs on Myspace.com tout the initiative, and bright green T-shirts
with a marijuana leaf on them are handed out to college students for a
$5 or $10 donation, while cigarette lighters are doled out for free.
The campaign is also running commercials on 93.3 FM, an alternative
rock station whose demographic is 18-to-34-year-olds.

Tvert even spent an hour on the Uncle Nasty Show on 106.7 FM KBPI last
week to chat about the measure with the host - a man who regularly
features porn stars eating pickles on the air and has photos on a Web
site asking listeners to pose while sitting on the toilet.

"We want to reach out to everyone," Tvert said.

The Amendment 44 campaign is the only political group to approach 93.3
FM about 30-second spots, said Mike Bohan, the station's head ad
salesman. Bohan said he couldn't remember ever getting the backers of
any other political issues or candidates to advertise on the station.

The station shares the same age demographic with KBPI, he
said.

"Our demographic isn't huge into politics," Bohan said. "I think the
tendency is they get overlooked."

They're also a risky group to bet on, according to Norman Provizer,
political science professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver.

He said Sen. John Kerry's campaign was somewhat successful in turning
out younger voters in the 2004 presidential race, and he agreed it was
a smart move by Tvert's campaign to try to bring younger voters into
the booth.

But he cautioned against relying on them too much.

"I would not limit my campaign to younger voters - that would be a
serious mistake," Provizer said. "There are probably a lot of baby
boomers you want to target as well.

Robert McGuire, who is heading up the opposition group Save Our
Society from Drugs, agreed, and said the strategy might actually backfire.

He said college-age students tend to view marijuana as counterculture
and might not like the idea of turning it into a legal pop-culture
phenomenon.

"They're trying to mobilize young people because they think young
people are inclined to vote for them, but I don't know there's really
any evidence for that," McGuire said.

Tyler Metz, a 20-year-old student at Colorado State University,
registered to vote at the SAFER booth one afternoon on campus, and
said he was torn on the ballot measure, despite giving positive
feedback to those volunteering with the pro-44 workers.

"I'm leaning more toward against it," he confessed.

Metz said "both sides have good points" but he feared there wasn't
enough research on how marijuana might be a gateway drug - a point
hammered home by the anti-marijuana side.

Tvert said it's a constant battle to not only get the law passed, but
also to serve as what he believes is as an educator on marijuana.

"We want to change people," Tvert said. "When you change people, then
you change laws."