Round 3: Back to basics

***This corrects an earlier version.***

Three-time congressional hopeful Steve Young is a self-confessed “techie.” The Newport Beach resident and Irvine-based trial attorney’s most recent foray into the world of YouTube is a musical commentary on disgraced Republicans.

“Jerry Falwell, Tom DeLay, Rush Limbaugh, Abu Ghraib,” begins a tune Young wrote for an online video that sounds eerily similar to Billy Joel’s 1989 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Young sings the song, titled “More Republican Scandals,” over a photo montage full of snapshots of Republican politicians and photographs of Iraq. The video, which Young edited, has raised him a little more than $800 in contributions on the Democratic action website actblue.com.

This is Young’s third try for the 48th Congressional District seat since 2005. This time around, he thinks he has a chance, even in heavily Republican Orange County.

“We see the door is open, and we want to run through it,” said Melahat Rafiei, executive director of the Democratic Party in Orange County. “Steve has done a lot to do that in the southern part of the county.”

Through grassroots efforts, about 30,000 new Democratic voters have registered in the past year, Rafiei said. Many of those new voters are in the 48th District.

“There are so many new factors that come into play in a presidential year,” said Young’s Campaign Manager Marion Pack, who has worked with Young since half way through his first congressional campaign. “A presidential race always energizes people who aren’t usually involved.”

Young’s biggest challenge now is building a strong base in the district, Pack said, something she feels can be accomplished through old-fashioned organizing and word-of-mouth advertising.

Young spends a lot of time in small groups in living rooms in neighborhoods across the district. He also claims to give his cellphone number to everyone he meets.

“The best way of making people aware of Steve is people talking neighbor to neighbor,” Pack said.