Calif. teen to run for city council

FREMONT, Calif., June 10 (UPI) -- A Fremont, Calif., 16-year-old has officially announced his candidacy for the City Council in the 2010 elections.

Mission High School junior Ishan Shah, who will be 18 at the time of the election, has already set up a campaign Web site, gathered an exploratory committee and published two position papers, KNTV, San Jose, Calif., reported Thursday.

"I am a product of life in the city of Fremont, therefore I can actually connect with what this city needs. I just need to convince people that I offer a higher level of accessibility than my opponents," Shah said.

Shah said he learned about the life of an elected official while working as an intern for Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif.

The young candidate said he plans to execute a "rigorous" voter registration drive to get more young people to vote in the local election. Still, Shah conceded he will have rough competition: The incumbents he will be facing in the at-large election likely are Bill Harrison and Anu Natarajan, who received 28,642 votes and 23,492 votes, respectively, in 2006.