Two reasons:
1.)The Obama campaign is bringing in tons of motivated volunteers, young and old, who are revitalizing our local Dem organization.
2) One way this is done is with the house parties that are organized in such a more democratic (small D) and inspiring way than the usual local Dem meet-ups that I have been to.

Allow me to elaborate on the first point.

I went to the event last night at Grotto, which was very well attended. Three moments there made me appreciate how Obama has energized young people.

1. Early on in the evening I was helping my mom, who organized it, set up. Two women walked in wanting to know where they could get voter registration information-they wanted to register voters at their place of work. I was kind of sure it was the Knox Co. Election Commission, but not entirely sure, having never picked up the forms myself. Then this bright eyed young Obama volunteer, a UT student, piped up- "Yeah, its Knox Co Election Commissions, which is in the old courthouse. Go there, and ask for the forms. You don't need to tell them who your with."
- Wow, I thought, these kids are on the ball.

2. Then I was looking around for an Obama t-shirt to buy. Talked to a few volunteers. Nope. No T-shirts. Nobody wanted to deal with the money. Then I look across the room, and another perky UT student for Obama has a box full of big orange "volunteers for Obama shirts"- 10$ each. Awesome! Pretty soon about half the room was wearing one of these shirts.

3. I had heard that Sunday in World's Fair Park there will be a voter registration drive, aiming at UT students. I went up to one of the now SEVEN UT student Obama volunteers, just to make sure they were on top of it. "You Kidding? We'll be there all day."

DAYUM!!! You gotta love a candidate who inspires young people like that.
I know, a lot of these kids will get back to partying after the election, and only a few will stay in Knox Co. But they are helping register voters, and build a more vital local organization.

Now, allow me to elaborate on my second point about the house parties.

Energizing young people is only part of the highly effective grass roots appeal of the Obama campaign. Ever been to one of those Obama house party's? They are ten thousand times more inspiring than any local Dem meet-up I have ever been to, which usually features some local dem leader monopolizing the floor and going on and on about something....and half the room with its eyes glazed over. Or worse yet, no one takes the floor at all and the event completely looses focus.
Compare that to the average Obama house party-EVERYONE GETS A TURN. And you talk about why YOU are inspired. Hopefully this will catch on with local Dems. It is so much more inspiring to hear regular people talk about what inspires them, than to hear from some local politico drone on.

I strongly recommend we integrate these grass-roots tactics from the Obama campaign into our local Dem organization. We've got a lot to learn.