MELISSA BLOCK, host:
One of the rising stars of the Republican National Convention is Princella Smith. She works for the think tank recently started by Newt Gingrich, and at age 24, Smith is often the youngest person in the room.
Alana Germany of Youth Radio has been tailing Smith at the convention, and that doesn't just mean following her to meetings or speeches.
ALANA GERMANY: Hitting the party scene at the Republican National Convention with Princella Smith is like hanging out with one of the popular girls.
Ms. PRINCELLA SMITH (American Solutions): Okay, so it is about 1 o'clock.
GERMANY: In the morning, by the way, and Princella's night has just begun.
Ms. SMITH: We are at the Rock the Vote party, lots of young people, lots of young professionals.
GERMANY: Princella broke into national politics in a big way at the last Republican convention, when she won MTV's essay contest Stand Up and Holler.
Ms. SMITH: This is so exciting.
Unidentified Man #1: Ladies and Gentlemen, Princella D. Smith.
(Soundbite of applause)
GERMANY: Princella's a rising star in the party. She's worked for big-name right-wingers like Michael Steele, Mike Huckabee and now Newt Gingrich, and she's a regular on the cable news shows like "Your World" on Fox News.
(Soundbite of television program "Your World")
Unidentified Man #2: Explain, Princella.
Ms. Smith: Well, first of all, you have to remember that for many conservatives, Hillary Clinton represents a time - she represents a time when her husband was in office…
GERMANY: Princella's clearly building her fan base, like this tipsy young gentleman in shiny red Mardi Gras beads at the Rock the Vote bash.
Unidentified Man #3: Let's take a picture right now.
Ms. SMITH: Oh, my goodness.
GERMANY: This convention is a stage for Princella to show the world she's arrived. But Hurricane Gustav came first, and that means the shindigs she's learned to work so well are being reframed as charity events for hurricane relief, and Princella's been bumped from press gigs she'd been planning for weeks.
Ms. SMITH: I don't take it personally. Obviously, there are bigger things in the world than if Princella Smith gets on TV or not.
GERMANY: But her interview with Essence magazine went forward as planned on the first day of the convention.
Unidentified Woman: Maybe get you, Shannon and Renee…
GERMANY: That's when Princella heard about McCain's VP candidate and her teenage daughter's pregnancy. Princella got the news from Essence reporter Cynthia Gordy.
Ms. SMITH: How old is she? She's a teenager, right?
Ms. CYNTHIA GORDY (Reporter, Essence Magazine): She's 17, in high school.
Ms. SMITH: Yeah.
Ms. GORDY: She's going to marry the father. It's all good.
GERMANY: That's not all good.
Oops. That was me. Maybe I shouldn't have said that, but then Princella checked me.
Ms. SMITH: And here's the thing. How many families has that happened to? Like who's going to start trying to pass judgment on television…
GERMANY: Princella knows what it's like to be judged.
Ms. SMITH: I have all of it, okay? I'm African American, so I could be pinged as an angry black person. I'm a female, so I could be pinged as too emotional. I am young, so I could be viewed as immature. So the main thing you have to do is keep yourself together. And guess what, if you know your stuff and you work hard, you will have yourself together.
GERMANY: And that's just what Princella plans to do, this week and beyond, to live up to her regal name and status as the leading voice of the Republican Party's next generation.
For NPR News, I'm Alana Germany.
BLOCK: Alana's story was produced by Youth Radio.
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