McCain adding youth appeal to Web site

WASHINGTON, July 24 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain's campaign Web site soon will roll out social network features a la MySpace to try to appeal to younger voters, staff members said.

The campaign for the likely Republican Party presidential nominee also is increasing its youth grass-roots organizing efforts across the country, tweaking its youth-oriented message to dovetail with the Arizona senator's biography, The Boston Globe reported Thursday.

By contract, presumptive Democratic Party candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois built his Web site and ground organization around young people, the Globe said. A poll last month showed Obama leading McCain among young voters by at least 22 percentage points in the critical states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Political specialists said McCain must pay attention to the politically active Millennial Generation -- generally people born in 1980s and 1990s. In the 2004 presidential election, voters under age 30 slightly outnumbered those over 65, the Globe said.

McCain has shown he can appeal to a young crowd during the primaries appearing on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and NBC's "Saturday Night Live." His daughter, Meghan, writes a blog, McCainBloggette, about the lighter side campaigning.