NC Primary Watch: Does Obama want the NC youth vote?

This is part of an ongoing series covering the North Carolina primary elections this May.

Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are giving North Carolina -- state of 134 Democratic delegates -- special treatment, Obama speaking to a packed crowd in Greensboro yesterday, Hillary addressing the faithful in Raleigh this morning.

But one candidate seems to be working harder for the North Carolina youth vote: Clinton.

The Young Democrats of North Carolina are gearing up for their 80th annual convention this Saturday, and it promises to be huge. Candidates are flocking from across the state to woo the increasingly critical youth vote (nationally, voters aged 18-29 are expected to be 25% of the electorate in 2008). John Edwards and other state Democratic royalty will be on hand.

The Clinton campaign has big guns lined up for the event. James Carville, an increasingly vocal Clinton surrogate (invited months ago) is scheduled to be the keynote speaker.

On top of that, this week the Clinton campaign announced it was also dispatching its #1 asset for reaching the youth vote: Chelsea Clinton, who will be addressing the convention on Saturday and has been making visits across the state for mom.

So who is Obama sending? The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory Booker.

True, Booker is an up-and-coming political star and a charismatic speaker who will no doubt represent Obama well. But it seems the Clinton camp is working a little harder, and thinking a bit more strategically, about how to reach the North Carolina youth vote.

A possible explanation floated by state strategists: Does Obama think he already has N.C., and the N.C. youth vote, wrapped up?