U. graduate heads College Republicans

A recent University of Utah graduate is out to help rejuvenate a shaken Republican Party at its youngest level.

Zach Howell, who graduated last spring after an internship with the Hinckley Institute of Politics, was elected as the College Republicans' national chairman. The last U. student and Hinckley intern to hold a high leadership position was Karl Rove as its executive director during the mid 1970s — or as the GOP bitterly remembers it, the Watergate scandal.

"Essentially, the two former interns had to take over at the lowest points of the Republican Party," said Kirk Jowers, director of the Hinckley Institute.

And low it is.

The party lost the past two elections. Democrats control the White House and both branches of Congress, and it's taking a toll on party morale.

A third of Republicans surveyed in a USA Today/Gallup Poll published Thursday said they have an unfavorable view of their own party.

Many Republicans feel like their party leaders failed them during the past eight years and want to return to their principles, Howell said.

"The College Republicans are critical to the GOP because President Obama did a magnificent job reaching out to college students who have steadily been going over to the Democratic party over the last 20 years," Jowers said.

Obama was an exciting candidate who swept most college students off their feet, but Howell and Jowers say students may change their minds after analyzing his policies.

Howell is planning to reclaim that demographic by appealing to their financial futures.

"If you're a young person, you want to see government being responsible with your money," a Republican principle the party has failed to uphold in the past eight years, he said.

As a man fresh out of college, Howell knows that students like him are scared to death of mounting debt and how they'll pay for the cost of living. Students want to know Social Security will be there for them and that the government can afford its debt so when they're working and investing, Washington won't default on their debt, he said.

Utah could serve as an inspiration for the appeal of fiscal conservatism, Howell said. Utah's economy is hurting with the rest of the country, but years of smart investment and policy have kept it better off than most, he said. As of January, the state's unemployment rate was about 3 percent lower than the national average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But while Howell leads the charge for the 18- to 25-year-old crowd, he doesn't know who will take up a figurehead position for all Republicans. In the same USA Today/Gallup Poll survey, almost half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents don't know who the party's figurehead is. The closest results, radio host Rush Limbaugh and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, each received only 10 percent of their votes. Only 17 percent of their Democratic counterparts failed to name President Barack Obama as the official spokesman for their party.

"It's a natural position for parties that have lost," said Howell, who's confident a leader will emerge organically within the next two years.

Until one emerges who speaks to GOP members of all ages, it's up to Howell to tell college students why the Republican Party is for them, Jowers said.

Rove did not respond for comment.

E-MAIL: mmcfall@desnews.com