YORK, MAINE - Candidate for the Maine State House, Sean Flaherty, addressed a crowd of all ages this afternoon, but his message was especially geared toward the many young voters who had assembled at the Lobster in the Rough Restaurant in York, Maine.

A pair of young state representative candidates made appearances, with 23-year-old Sean Flaherty of Scarborough and 24-year-old Jordan Landry of Sanford using their candidacies to urge young voters to head to the polls. Both said they supported the development of better energy policies and green technology and policies that they said should improve the economy of Maine.

“This election is a chance to change the future of the state, the country, up and down the ballot,” Flaherty said.

- www.seacostonline.com

Below is the complete transcript of Flaherty’s remarks:

When I graduated from college, my friend and I moved off campus and started our careers. He and I could not be more polar opposites. I’m from Maine, a huge Red Sox Fan. He is from Brooklyn, New York, a huge Yankees fan.

But the way that he and I were most different was that I worked in Progressives Politics … and he worked for the John McCain Campaign. You couldn’t dream of a better reality TV show if you tried.

We would fight about everything from Baseball to Gun Control, from Tom Brady to Dick Cheney. You name it – we fought about it. Yet, we continued to live together. And every night, we’d debate politics and fight over what to watch on TV … I wanted CNN – he, of course, wanted Fox News.

I learned living under the same roof with someone you fundamentally disagreed with 95% of the time wasn’t all that hard. And if you can live with someone like that, you better believe you can work with them.

That’s exactly the attitude that our generation is bringing to politics.

We are a generation sick of partisanship; a generation who rejects labels and stereotypes; a generation tired of pointing fingers and laying blame; a generation that just wants to get something done, because if we don’t we’re the ones going to pay for it.

Change is so important for our generation because we are the generation who is loosing brothers, and sisters, and classmates, and best friends in Iraq. Our generation is entering a work force with less and less jobs available. Our generation will tackle the greatest global threat of these times – climate change. Our generation will work to give health care to ALL Americans. Our generation will put an end to racism, and sexism, and prejudice in all forms. And our generation who will stand up and start bringing the change we need.

John Kennedy once said “a rising tide lifts all boats.” That statement is true now more than ever. There is a rising tide in this country and it’s not made up of Democrats or Republicans; it’s a rising tide of Americans, Americans who are calling for change.

And there is only one way to be the driving wave behind that tide, and that’s to make sure that our voices are being heard. Typical politicians ignore youth issues, and the reason is, we don’t vote. People over 65 always vote in large numbers. So who do you think the politicians are catering too?

But when you and I hit the ballot box this November we’ll do more than just elect some younger candidates to represent us in Augusta – we’ll send a message for future elections, that the 30 and under crowd maters. If you want to win an election you better come talk to us. You better come knock on our door. You better offer some real solutions to the issues that we’re going to face, not just in the next 4 years, but the next 40.

Over the next few years, our generation must draft a plan for our own future. And we are going to have to make some promises to ourselves: promise affordable health care to all of Maine’s hard working citizens, promise that today’s students will be able to, not just attend, but afford college, promise that once they graduate, Maine will have a job to offer them and an affordable home to raise a family, promise that we’ll do better than the generation before us.

What I’m telling you is something that you already know. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want to make sure leaders like Congressman Tom Allen were listening to you, and he is. So thank you! Thank you for being aware, thank you for being engaged, thank you for caring, and thank you for helping to make this a better State and a better country.

Now let’s go out, let’s register our friends to vote, let’s explain to them why it’s so important, and let’s make sure more politicians here us loud an clear!

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