Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty has made a concerted effort to reach out to young voters as he preps for a presidential run, from appearances on "The Daily Show" to Lady Gaga and Charlie Sheen references in his speeches.
Now Pawlenty has a student group backing him.
An Ohio State University junior has started "Students for T-Paw," a group independent from the campaign that will try to organize young voters for the Minnesota governor.
Justin Higgins, a junior political science major at OSU, said he created the group last month after attending CPAC, where several other potential candidates — Mitt Romney, Mitch Daniels and Ron Paul — had well-represented student organizations.
"I did a Google search to find out if something existed (for Pawlenty)," Higgins said. "I found two Facebook pages with half-dozen people at different schools."
Higgins, who is a member of Ohio State's College Republicans and the local county Republican Party committee, said he's had an eye on Pawlenty since the Minnesota Republican was a prospective VP nominee in 2008.
Higgins' website has representatives in 15 states so far, including Minnesota, though not in the states where Pawlenty has spent the most time lately: Iowa and New Hampshire. He says the group will organize campus events such as debate-watching parties as the presidential primaries near.
"A lot of our folks feel very comfortable," Higgins said, "that it's not a hard sell to sell Governor Pawlenty."
