Budding political student challenges national committee chairman

PROVO — There are plenty of people clamoring for Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to resign. Including 22-year-old Tom Schultz, who balanced his campaign to topple the national politician with studying for finals at BYU and attempts at a social life — a tough combination, he laughingly admits.

"I try to spend as much time as I can in politics, even while I'm in school," he said. "I see it as necessary. I feel like I have a moral obligation to learn how to win, and in the future I want to win. I want to help conservatives get elected. In order to do that, you have to sacrifice sometimes."

Right now the budding political operative's sacrifice is about 20 (unpaid) hours a week as he gears up for the mid-January RNC committee chairman election. It's an unheralded election, but it's a big deal, he asserts.

So big, that "if we don't get a new chairman, then it is very unlikely that we'll beat Barack Obama in 2012," he said. Schultz was hoping Steele would bow out of the race, yet Steele announced his bid for re-election Monday night.

Schultz's website replacemichaelsteele.com/ attacks one of Steele's proclaimed strengths: his bond with the younger generation.

"It's not so much about the numbers on the petition, rather it was a message that Michael Steele … frequently brags about how great he's doing among the youth, and quite frankly, I don't see that," Schultz said.

And Shultz is a tough customer, thanks to training in Washington, D.C., and experience staffing a recent successful campaign to get his brother Matt Schultz elected to secretary of state in Iowa.

"(Schultz) brings a level of sophistication that's beyond anything I've ever seen in a student," said BYU political science professor Quin Monson. "He comes to classes having already essentially managed a statewide campaign. That's pretty unusual."

Whether it's Shultz' grassroots message, his youthful voice or his age-belying experiences, his message is rising above the blogging din and grabbing attention from places like the Huffington Post and TalkingPointsMemo.com — a monumental achievement, says BYU political science professor Adam Brown.

"So many people are trying to have their voices heard, a few will break through and have their moment," he said. "On the occasion when someone does manage to make a splash with a blog, Twitter account or Facebook account, it's almost the exception to the rule."