Generation Y: Ready to Rock the 2008 Election (and turning up at the polls)

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: Generation Y: Ready to Rock the 2008 Election
By Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 10, 2008; Page C01

Waiting to hear Barack Obama speak under the twinkling chandeliers of the old Palace Theatre in Manchester, N.H., Nina Fuentes, 21, explained her draw to the presidential process: "They say young people are apathetic. Well, he's bringing us into the process. He's offering inspiration and hope that we can make a difference. . . . What I like is that his success is coming from grass roots, from the bottom up." "Obama," says Fuentes, a college senior who brought a group of high-schoolers from Illinois to witness the primary, "empowers us into thinking we can make a difference."

You can see it in their faces, their body language, an excitement for reasons they are almost too young to articulate. The same thrill was there nearly half a century ago with John F. Kennedy, and a few years later with his brother Bobby, when hordes of young people pushed the police barricades on Kings Highway in Brooklyn to touch him during his 1968 presidential run.

And Obama is not the only contender reeling them in. Across the political spectrum, this presidential election is shaping up as a banner year for young activists and voters. As they help build Texas Republican Ron Paul's unexpected cult following, knock on doors for Hillary Clinton, and show up at rallies to tote signs and listen to John McCain, they also are finding themselves to be a valued voting bloc.

"Apathy is no longer cool," says Marc Morgenstern, executive director of Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan organization that targets 18-year-olds and has registered a quarter of a million voters so far this year. "They feel the candidates are listening to them."

This time, they are proving their passion at the polls. Young voters have turned out in record numbers for the first two state contests, Iowa and New Hampshire, spurring some candidates to step up their outreach. Turnout of 18- to 29-year-olds in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary climbed to 43 percent of eligible voters, compared with 18 percent in 2004 and 28 percent in 2000, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at the University of Maryland. In Iowa, 22 percent of all caucusgoers were under 30, compared with only 9 percent in 2000....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/09/AR2008010903761.html?hpid=topnews

[rinsd]

1. 43%! Holy shit I had no idea it was that high.

[Nimrod2005]

2. k

[HockeyMom]

3. It's their future

and the ones I know (my daughters and their friends) are as mad as hell over how much damage Bush and company has done to this country, the world, and the planet.

This is what "change" is all about.

[1corona4u]

5. Yes, well it's the baby boomer's future too....

as well as other age groups. Maybe Obama has forgotten that? I don't know how, since he's a baby boomer himself. I'd like it to be able to spend the rest of my years, not worrying about 'change' that may not equal 'good'.

[Radical Activist]

4. Obama would have won New Hampshire

if colleges weren't out on break.

[laconicsax]

6. A lot of these kids worry me.

I know a few dozen or so of them (acquaintances from college). A lot of them support a candidate, but usually not because of their positions. Most of them do feel like they need to get involved, but since they've never really looked (in depth or at all) at the various issues, let alone where any of the candidates stand on them, they pick a candidate who's popular and go. I worry that most of them will become jaded or apathetic if their chosen candidate drops out. There are also the bad apples (not just the young Republicans).

The worst kind (who isn't right wing) is embodied in a 18 year old high school senior I met a few months ago (my fiancee's boss' wife's friend's son). Here's a collection of quotes. (Surfer accent) "I like Barack Obama...he's really cool. He's like, against the Iraq war and like wants to get us out of Iraq." "I don't like Hillary Clinton or John Edwards. I don't know why, I just think that like, they're politicians." "Did you see Sicko? That was a like really good movie. People say that Dennis Kucinich has the best health care plan, but Barack Obama's plan is like, the exact same."

edit: changed subject heading