{"id":287,"date":"2004-10-26T23:21:03","date_gmt":"2004-10-27T04:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=287"},"modified":"2004-10-26T23:21:12","modified_gmt":"2004-10-27T04:21:12","slug":"teen-runs-for-agriculture-post-in-wva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=287","title":{"rendered":"Teen Runs for Agriculture Post in W.Va."},"content":{"rendered":"

Doesn’t look like this will be a battle for the ages, but it certainly is a battle of<\/em> the ages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Andrew Yost is a year and a half out of high school \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a teenager who juggles part-time farm work with a full load of college courses. Gus Douglass is old enough to be his grandfather \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a gray-haired political veteran who was first elected when Lyndon Johnson was in the White House.<\/p>\n

But the two have one thing in common: They are running for agriculture commissioner of West Virginia. Yost, 19, is the Republican longshot Nov. 2 against Douglass, 77, a Democrat seeking a record 10th term.<\/p>\n

The race is the ultimate study in contrast, pitting youthful idealism and enthusiasm against decades of hands-on experience.<\/p>\n

Yost voted for the first time in May, when he won the Republican primary. Douglass was in the middle of his sixth term when Yost was still in diapers.<\/p>\n

In campaign photos, Yost wears a blue corduroy jacket that proclaims him a Future Farmer of America. Douglass runs a 540-acre farm with his son, and is a past national president of the Future Farmers of America.<\/p>\n

Douglass has raised nearly $18,000 in donations this year and spent about half. By Election Day, Yost will have spent no more than a few thousand dollars on printing and mailing.<\/p>\n

“When I say it’s a grass-roots campaign, I’m not just saying that. It really is,” says Yost, who has pledged to neither solicit nor accept contributions. “When I go into office, I don’t want to owe any favors. I can run the office based on my own integrity and what’s best for the people.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Young Yost — no campaign website, miniscule chance, tons of spunk. Youthful energy and idealism, whether I agree with the beliefs or not, are things I’ve always admired. Whether his future is in agriculture or politics, I expect long-term success for Yost. The kid’s got moxie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doesn’t look like this will be a battle for the ages, but it certainly is a battle of the ages. Andrew Yost is a year and a half out of high school \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a teenager who juggles part-time farm work with a full load of college courses. Gus Douglass is old enough to be his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}