Teen prints ‘right’ stuff

Alicia Robinson

In his flip-flops, jeans and Quiksilver T-shirt, 15-year-old Andrew

Clark wouldn’t look out of place on a bicycle or surfboard. But Clark

spends most of his free time surfing the Internet and peddling his

conservative political ideas in a newsletter he writes and publishes

himself.

After finding a program to create a newsletter on his computer one

night, he started the “The Republican Insider” in August and just

this week put out his fifth issue. Clark writes book reviews,

discusses current events and analyzes election results and political

policies.

“The hardest part is definitely thinking of things to write

about,” he said. “Once [I] do get the topics, the thoughts just kind

of flow out of my head.”

His predictions are sometimes prescient. He correctly called how

all but three states -- New Hampshire, New Mexico and Wisconsin --

would go in the recent presidential election.

Clark became interested in politics in the last few years, when he

would get into debates with friends at school about the war in Iraq

and other issues.

“All of my friends would say, ‘It’s so bad that we’re going to

war,’ and I would defend why I thought we should go to war,” he said.

Clark has always been a writer, said his mother, Shelly Clark.

“He has from day one been a very passionate kid about anything he

does,” she said. “The political bent is a bit of a surprise.... He’s

definitely more conservative than his parents.”

Clark first sent the newsletter to family and a few friends, but

it proved more popular than his personal circle.

His list of readers has grown from about 15 to more than 100. His

parents paid for the first issue, but an appeal for donations to keep

the newsletter going brought in more than enough, he said.

“This is really like a garage operation,” said Jeff Solsby, an

Irvine government relations consultant and newsletter reader. “It

epitomizes desktop publishing.”

Solsby knows Clark’s parents, who told him about “The Republican

Insider.”

People of Clark’s generation are far ahead of their predecessors

in their grasp of technology and information, Solsby said, but Clark

has chosen a less common avenue for his opinions.

“Candidly, I find many of the things he says more insightful and

more interesting than many of the things I read in the mainstream

media,” he said. “He’s not just repeating what he’s getting off

washingtonpost.com.”

Beyond the newsletter, Clark’s interests are somewhat political.

He’s involved in Newport Harbor High School’s Model United Nations

club and the Junior Statesmen, a debating group.

Despite his Republican leanings, “he doesn’t come in and stress a

one-sided view at all in my class,” said Angela Newman, who teaches

advanced-placement world history. “He’s an excellent student.”

His newsletter has opened doors, getting him invited to political

events, and that may be useful to him later in life.

“To become governor of California would be one of my aspirations,”

he said. “President would be pretty cool, too.”

For information on “The Republican Insider,” send an e-mail to

Andrew Clark at [email protected].

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].