Casey Knowles from Clinton 3am Ad, supports Obama

Casey Knowles, the little girl in Hillary’s 3 am ad is supporting Obama. Hillary’s campaign used 8 year old stock footage and now the girl has grown up to be a young woman who will be able to vote in November. She was a precinct captain for Obama in a recent caucus.

Last summer, Bonney Lake (WA) High School's student government representatives held a retreat to plan for the year, reported in the Puyallup (WA) Herald. In that article, one student leader summarized the hope that those young, bright, engaged future leaders wanted to bring, not to American politics, but just to their own high school's new school year:

Public Relations Officer Casey Knowles, another senior, said she has high hopes for this year’s student government.

“We’re a group that wants change,” Knowles said.

OK, so now you know a tiny nugget about who one Casey Knowles is: a high school senior, involved in student government, willing to invest some time over the summer in trying to make her school a better place -- and summarizing her classmates', and her generation's, ideal: "We're a group that wants change."

That's awesome! We love kids like Casey Knowles, who care about making the world better instead of getting a high score on Wii! But why's it news, and why today?

NOW THE STORY THAT'S STARTING TO MAKE THE ROUNDS TODAY: Casey Knowles turns out to be one of the children used in Clinton's "3 AM" ad (here, along with all its Republican "be afraid. be very afraid" antecedents), which used stock film footage from several years ago. And Casey Knowles, who had no idea her image was being used in Clinton's ad, is now not only a high school student government leader, but also a Democratic precinct captain and -- consistent with her hope for change -- a fervent Obama supporter.

Therefore; Obama has actually earned the real-life support of a really cool, smart, involved, active young person like Casey Knowles. Clinton has merely reached back years for film footage of that cool, smart, involved, active young person when she was a child, to make an ad that the cool, smart, involved, active young person strongly disagrees with.

The future vs. the past; reality vs. images; Obama vs. Clinton. Now, ain't this the whole primary campaign in a nutshell?

News and blog stories on Casey Knowles can be found on the Huffington Post, the Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages, TPM, and Washington State local TV. Other campaign stories here and here