In the aftermath of the Republican and Democrat nominations, new poll figures indicate that the race for America's heads, hearts, and votes is widening slightly; Obama is edging out McCain at 49% to 42% in approval ratings. To make up the difference, the McCain campaign team is taking a page from the Obama campaign's book and launching a campus invasion, flooding Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube marketing agressively towards uncertain college students and bringing them into the conservative fold.

The language of the handbooks, flyers, and websites that are geared towards supporting young conservatives who want to evangelize the GOP message would have one think that there is an actual war going on for the White House. Young America's Foundation may not issue you dog tags and combat boots with your copy of the "Campus Conservative Battleplan,"  but you will learn how to do reconnaissance. For example, you learn how investigate your professors for liberal tendencies and report them to different watchdogs group, like Campus Watch, where their names and contact information are added to the list and made publicly available. All of this and more in the Battleplan that includes "revolutionary ideas to aggressively promote conservatism."

An article in Esquire, however, has a different take on the reality of the gathering young Republicans in polar opposite of the slick websites and aggressive language that pervades the young conservative movement online: "As with any collection of aspiring politicians, this year's convention crowd skewed slightly dorky--somewhere between a Magic: The Gathering tournament and a regional meeting of CPAs." The Republicans face a steep learning curve to use their youngest potential voting bloc effectively on campus, and they are playing catch-up to the DNC's hyperactive college activism machine.

Can they match their fightin' words with votes?