Premier Ewart Brown has travelled half way around the world to court Bermuda's young voters however his efforts to reach out on Facebook.com and woo concert goers have had decidedly mixed results.

But with the next election likely to again be a close race, neither party can ignore the one demographic which could still have an open mind on political affairs.

Chairwoman of the United Bermuda Party's youth wing Kim Caines, 23, said while some young voters were happy to simply copy their parents others were putting both parties under equal scrutiny.

"I have met people who are actively researching both parties and have questions that need to be answered. I don't believe all young people are apathetic to voting we realise the power our vote has and, on the day, it is going to come down to the vote."

Political pundit and prospective Progressive Labour Party MP Walton Brown said successive leaders had talked for years about addressing young voters.

"I think Dr. Brown is probably the first Premier for many years to actually go to young people to get feedback from them."

And he said as younger people tended to be less conservative they were less inclined to support the UBP while the Premier had recognised the need to talk to them via the latest interactive mediums including Facebook.com where voters can post questions on Dr. Brown's page and get responses.

His approach could be working. The last poll from Mr. Brown's Research Innovations company showed 45.9 percent of voters in the 18-35 bracket backed the PLP compared to just 8.1 percent favouring the Opposition while 18.9 percent were undecided.

"And if you convert people when they are young they remain the backbone of support as they get older. It makes good political sense," said Mr. Brown.

But getting support is one thing, getting votes on the day is another. Mr. Brown said young people were less likely to be registered to vote.

"We need to make politics relevant to younger people. Older people understand the issues instinctively because they have been through a series of struggles that young people have never had to go through."

Sometimes it was difficult to understand what young people wanted said Mr. Brown.

"But there is this anger and frustration and you have to accept it is genuine even though they can't articulate it."

But while Dr. Brown has put an emphasis on youth there has been little change to the make-up of Parliament other than the appointment of Davida Morris, at age 25, to the Senate.

It's understood only about four or five of the near 70 hopefuls wanting to be candidates for the PLP were under 40.

Instead the PLP is bringing back old stagers such as Phil Perinchief, who is standing in St. George's South while El James, who actually retired from Parliament in 2003, is thought to be about to make a comeback by standing in Warwick.

Meanwhile the UBP have few young candidates other than Donte Hunt, who at 29 is taking on Mr. Perinchief, and 31-year-old Douglas DeCouto who will face House Speaker Stanley Lowe in the PLP stronghold of Southampton East.

PLP chairman David Burt, who was appointed to his post last year at the age of 28, said his party had a lot more work to do to recruit younger candidates.

"There is a stigma which is attached to it. Where I come from code word for the black community it is 'Get your house, get your life sorted out, make sure you have a stable job and a house before you get into politics', because there is always that in the back of your mind that if you mess with the wrong people they can come after you. That affects people.

"It is a lot easier now being a vocal member of the PLP than it used to be but the vestiges of fear are not gone."

He said in most jurisdictions young people are the ones who are most involved in politics but not in Bermuda.

"It is scary here, fortunately in our party there are a lot more young people getting involved."

And with an election in the air there is plenty to do.

"They find us I am in the office every day and young people come and say they want to sign up."

Mr. Burt said he had no figures on youth involvement in the PLP but said Dr. Brown had made a concerted effort to get young people involved by inviting them to serve on various committees, including the campaign committee.

"We are incredibly encouraged but one of the difficulties is keeping people interested and involved and give them meaningful work to do."

He is pleased by the poll backing from young people but says they are not necessarily the key to winning the election. Indeed the PLP was first swept into office in the November 1998 election when the student vote was absent.

Jamahl Simmons, who was one of the youngest MPs ever to be elected to the House when he entered the House in a 2002 bye-election said: "In a lot of other countries young people are the driving force in terms of protest.

"Bermuda has a culture where you have to pay your dues and work your way up so a lot of young people don't get the opportunities early. I was fortunate in that I got a good opportunity at 28-years-old when I was picked.

"A lot of people don't get that opportunity. I had established an identity in the NLP but with most people in their 20s, people would say who they hell are you?

"But we need to get more young people in. We bring a different attitude to the table on issues like race and economics. You want a good balance of people with experience as well as young people to cultivate."

He has been shocked by the hero-worship among some youngsters for Dr. Brown as evidenced by a recent Q and A session at Greg's Steakhouse.

"I had never seen in politics before in Bermuda a group of young people so into one leader. They were Ewart Brown fans and supporters.

"I had one UBP voter from my seat from a family of UBP voters say she was glad I wasn't running again because she has switched to the PLP because of Dr. Brown.

"She said this guy's 'the man'. I was amazed by the devotion they had it was almost a rock star type of thing.

"And I notice that Michael Dunkley is getting similar sort of play being based on Facebook I hear people talk about that. There are some inroads being made."

The Brown phenomenon seems all the more striking given he is now in his sixties said Mr. Simmons who added: "Bermudians are really starved for strong black male leadership.

"He's tough, strong, speaks well, looks good and he cares about me it's that kind of thing. The David Cameron/Tony Blair effect someone they can relate to, speaking to their values."

But parties which try too hard risk having it backfire as happened in Snorkel Park last week when Dr. Brown was booed when he made an impromptu appearance on stage to introduce singer Collie Buddz.

Bermudian blogger Denis Pitcher, who runs website 21 Square, said the Premier had made a brilliant move in signing up to Facebook.com as people saw it was a genuine way young voters could engage with him directly.

But he said the Premier had blundered by appearing to jump on the bandwagon with Collie Buddz as he had appeared to not know the singer was half Bermudian.

"I would prefer if he liked the music for him to just show up and support it by being there. If we feel like he's just trying to get our vote then it's insulting."

Mr. Pitcher, 26, said the Premier gets a better response at sporting events but the concert appearance had only emphasised his disconnect.

"He's so much older so it's hard for him to come across as genuine."

For Jamahl Simmons the problem of genuinely engaging young people in politics is a tricky one.

"In my constituency, and I think it is reflected in a lot of other constituencies, people 35 and under didn't come out and vote in the numbers representative of their group. There's been a disengagement." For those who did cast their ballot it was a family affair in terms of their allegiance.

"What I have found is most young voters, black and white, are very informed. More informed than anyone would give them credit for. Young people have greater b/s detectors than most other people.

"You are either idealistic or cynical and you think anyone above 30 is a prat."

While he has seen children of UBP members coming forward fired up by issues like the environment he said keeping them interested was the key.

The UBP hope youth activist Gina Spence-Farmer can pull in young voters while Kenny Bascome in St. George's also has a cachet with the younger crowd.

Mr. Simmons said a full-time party youth worker was needed to really make a difference. The trick was to have a clear role for young people. "They want to do stuff. Throw parties, have clean-up days. Get them involved socially and the politics will follow."

Mr. Simmons said both parties needed to reach out to youngsters like the Conservative Party in the UK which sends voters a birthday card on their 18th birthday.

But he said Parliament was inaccessible to most Bermudians and few young ones would be tuning on a Friday night.

Mr. Simmons, who has an abiding love for politics, even though he is retiring at the next election admits his fascination is uncommon. But he grew up amid politics as his father was an MP.

"I wanted to be involved in politics since he was eight year's old. My house was like branch headquarters I was hooked on it." He said most youngsters followed the family political line albeit with more cynicism.

"Young voters are tuning out anything that is not relevant. They are not devouring a newspaper cover to cover they are saying 'OK this relates to me, I will read that'."

The issues for younger people, said Mr. Simmons were housing, opportunity, conscription and marijuana decriminalisation "A lot of people are asking 'How do I make my way in this country?' Options elsewhere are becoming more attractive."

But the demarcation lines of race are perhaps more significant than the similarities of age when it comes to supporting a party, suggests Mr. Simmons.

"If you talk about environment you have got young whites out in droves, if you talk about housing and economics you get a mostly black audience. It's just different priorities."

So will the youth make the difference at the next election?

"The impact will be if they come out. That group is the hardest to predict but the most likely not to vote."

He said the younger members of the PLP like Davida Morris and David Burt had been quiet because there was no time to grow into the role with an election bearing down fast.

"You just don't have time to be loosey-goosey and make mistakes."