Get our most popular stories once a week!
i had enough- i have now endured over 13 months on this net being ignored or deleted by every..."
Posted by noblefuse in Jesus for President
oneofmany posted in Hip-Hop Elitism: Why Soulja Boy is More Hip Hop Than You
oneofmany posted in N-Word, Please.
jodijodijodi posted in Hip-Hop Elitism: Why Soulja Boy is More Hip Hop Than You
|
Trick or Vote: The Best Way on the Best Day
(Editor's Note: This post originally appeared on Future Majority.)
Pop Quiz Time:
1.What is the single most effective way to mobilize voters?
a) Visibilities
b) Sitting on a couch and bitching
c) Talking to 'em face-to-face
2.What holiday always immediately precedes Election Day and has a built-in tradition of door-knocking?
a) Halloween
b) The 4th of July
c) Festivus
3.What does everyone love?
a) Rick Rolling
b) Costumes!
c) Voting
d) All of the above
All of us who work in the field of youth engagement face big competition. The biggest competition we face - for volunteers, for attention - is not from one another's organizations either. It's from the Wii (which is sweet) and the bar scene and friends and loved ones. Our biggest challenge is overcoming that noise and building a politics that is fun and exciting and relevant to people's lives.
That's what makes Trick or VoteTM so freaking sweet. It's the Best Way on the Best Day. It's actually such a sweet idea it doesn't even really need an explanation. But here it is in a nutshell: Get some people who are a bit too old to trick or treat (go as young as high school and as old as the retirement home for your recruitment), rally 'em in costume, meet in a centralized location, train these folks to canvass effectively, and knock some doors. In short, we combine a cultural more (knock doors on Halloween) with hard-minded political research (knocking doors is an effective voter mobilization tool). The result?
•More volunteers. In Portland in 2004, 850 canvassers assembled for the largest mass canvass in the history of the state. By all accounts, this year will be even bigger.
•More virgin volunteers. Out of that same crowd in Portland, more than one-in-three were first-time political volunteers who came out of the woodwork for a program well-suited to help our fellow citizens lose their voter virginity.
•More conversations. On Halloween evening, people are home - either waiting for trick-or-treaters or getting ready for their parties. They're even prepared to open the door. And they're definitely ready to engage in a conversation. All of which means that we don't just hit more doors, we hit more doors in a more effective manner.
•More voters. Do the math -- more canvassers, more conversations, and more doors? More people are hitting the polls. The Bus Federation wants to take Trick or VoteTM national this year - and we can do it with your help.
If you're part of a local or national organization that is serious about doing Trick or VoteTM, get in touch soon so we can coordinate our efforts. Contact Alex Aronson at the Oregon Bus Project @ 503-233-3018. Just looking for a project for the fall and think you could pull off a kick-ass Trick or Vote in your hometown? Or even just want to assemble 15 of your closest friends and friends-of-friends and friendly-friends-of-friends'-friends and go hit some doors? Drop us a line. I swear to you, you'll be glad you did.
Major props, by the way, to our friends at the Bus for this innovative program -- Trick or Vote is their brainchild.
Answers to the pop quiz: 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
Jesus for President
The Jesus for President has been flying under the radar for the past several months until they recently caught up with a CNN reporter, curious about their campaign efforts.
Shane Claiborne, co-author and campaign manager for "Jesus for President" describes past experiences with his faith trying to understand the differences between being a believer and a doer. Believers, he explains at a speaking engagement, are the folks who have been messaged to death with the concept of believing, but rarely do churches focus on how to turn that belief into action.
"This whole project is about the political imagination of what it means to follow after Jesus," Claiborne said. "The language of Jesus as Lord and savior is just as radical as it would be to say 'Jesus as our commander-in-chief' today."
"Young evangelicals represent an important swing-voting bloc. They're not a lock for Republicans as their parents were. Their feet are firmly planted on issues dear to both parties. Traditional family values are, as they have been in the past, an important issue," the CNN piece says.
This information isn't new, I've reported on it here, and here and here. But the distribution of the message is a new one. Claiborne is taking his message to young people of faith in true evangelical style for the 21st Century.
According to the CNN piece, the meetings are met with curious and disaffected faith based voters who are backing away from the Republican leadership.
"There were voters from across the board: Republicans, Democrats and independents. Most were young, Christian by background, evangelical in theology, and they say they're hungry for something more than partisan politics.
Steph Walker and Amanda Widing had to settle for seats in the back.
"I would say that social justice and issues like that have definitely arisen as an important part of my faith and, because of that, it affects how I vote and think of those things definitely," said 21-year-old Walker."
Read the rest of the post »
Idle Hands: Why The Candidates Must Focus on America's Youth
(Editor's note: This post originally appeared on Jeff Chang's blog, Zentronix.)
This summer could be the worst ever for teens looking for work, according to experts. Less than one in three youths may find summer jobs.
In recent years, the youth jobless rate has soared to record highs. In cities like Chicago, three in four teens, including seven in eight Black teens, did not work in 2006. But this summer could mark the highest level of youth joblessness since the end of World War II.
The shrinking economy and rising unemployment rates are to blame, as laid-off workers compete with young people for shrinking piece of the pie. Budget cuts have led to the ending of federal, state, and city youth jobs programs.
But the biggest problem is a lack of political interest.
Earlier this year, George W. Bush and Democratic Congressional leadership killed a $1 billion proposal to create youth jobs. At the same time, the Justice Department gave a $500,000 grant to a George H.W. Bush-chaired golf program supposedly meant to stop juvenile crime.
"We need something really attractive to engage the gangs and the street kids," the Justice Department's administrator was quoted as saying. "Golf is the hook."
Dozens of other effective programs were denied. Many grants were disbursed via affirmative action for friends of the administration, the domestic equivalent of handing out no-bid work to firms for "Iraqi reconstruction".
It was still more proof that politicians have neither a clue nor a care as to how to really address the needs of young Americans.
Read the rest of the post »
Farewell Revolution
The Washington Post chronicled the end of the Ron Paul presidential campaign in their Sunday edition, declaring Viva Revolution! for its supporters.
Like some before him, Paul will broaden his campaign into a larger movement that will hopefully harness his active youth following. The Campaign for Liberty aims to:
"promote and defend the great American principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a noninterventionist foreign policy, by means of educational and political activity."
While this year was overwhelmed with youth turnout, that turnout has not been able to sustain the Paul campaign. According to the Post, Paul's history doesn't lend itself to the kind of youth-based mobilization campaign officials envisioned. The Post writes:
"Aside from a strict adherence to libertarian principles -- an adherence that earned Paul the nickname "Dr. No" for his tendency to vote against any legislation that extended the government's role beyond that specifically enumerated in the Constitution -- Paul was regarded as something of an oddball in the House."
It's the kind of mystery that has left even the Washington Post questioning the reasons for the phenomenon. They ask voters in a poll what they attribute Paul's right wing popularity to, listing: "the opposition to the war," "disaffected voters looking to send a message," and "The appeal of a straight talker."
Personally, I ignore the "What Ron Paul revolution?," choice. Amid all these questions, many pundits ignore an obvious sentiment: the right wing desire to see change in the White House.
We've seen it with Barack Obama, who has based his entire campaign on change. Wouldn't it stand to reason that the need for something different would also be carried over to the GOP? It could be that Ron Paul speaks a different language than both rank and file partisans. Another noteworthy commentary about Paul is that once it became apparent that his base was with young voters, his campaign made great strides to continue to do outreach with those voters. Ron Paul's moderate stance on conservative issues may have made his campaign more accessible to young voters than his GOP counterparts. Or, as one campaign manager I know pointed out, it could have just been the drugs. (Ron Paul once said that we should decriminalize drugs including marijuana.)
The recent Mother Jones article has this interesting graphic also explaining the crossover communities that followed Ron Paul
Obama, McCain And Midwest Youth Voters
I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the good Senator and her hard work on the campaign trail. She is a dedicated public servant and a dedicated candidate.
Much of the media has spent the last week talking about mistakes the Clinton Campaign made in a year that was formerly seen to be all hers for the democratic nomination and opportunities the Obama Campaign capitalized on early and often.
In Sunday's New York Times, top campaign adviser to the Clintons Mark Penn attributes a number of problems, but most notably says
"From more aggressively courting young people earlier to mobilizing the full power of women, there are things that could have been done differently."
In the new TIME Magazine headline article How Obama Did It young voters also earn a lot of credit.
"In most presidential elections, the Iowa caucuses are an anomaly. Competing there is a complicated, labor-intensive undertaking that, once finished, is cast off as an oddity and never repeated. But in 2008 it became for Obama the road test of a youth-oriented, technology-fueled organization and the model for many of the wins that followed. It was also a challenge to history...
"But counting on new voters had proved disastrous for Dean in 2004. The Obama campaign knew that it would have to build a network of Iowans rather than supporters brought in from other parts of the country, says Plouffe, but "we didn't have to accept the electorate as it is."
"Show up they did, shattering turnout records. Obama prevailed with a surprising eight-point margin over Edwards, who came in second. Obama counts Iowa as his biggest victory, the one that foreshadowed the rest. "Voters under 30 participated at the same rates as voters over 65. That had never happened before," the Democratic nominee says. "That continues to be something I'm very proud of — how we've expanded the voter rolls in every state where we've campaigned. I think that means we can put into play some states that might normally not be in play."
(emphasis mine)
As Mike over at FM points out "this is a far cry from Mark Penn at the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson dinner" back in January.
"At least two of Hillary Clinton’s upper-echelon advisers, Mandy Grunwald and Mark Penn, were decidedly unimpressed .
“Our people look like caucus-goers,” Grunwald said, “and his people look like they are 18. Penn said they look like Facebook.”
Penn added, “Only a few of their people look like they could vote in any state.”
This all proves once again, if you build it... they will come.
Several months ago I wrote a blog about how surprised I was at the turnout for Republican candidates in Oklahoma. This week I learned of another candidate nearby that has polling information that shows young people in the district trending more conservatively in another heartland state. This is different from the national trends that indicate young people tend to favor more progressive candidates.
Read the rest of the post »
Wanted: Superhero
A well coiffed offering from comedy king Will Ferrell couldn’t deliver, nor could a steamy bodice-ripper from It Girls Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. The Wachowski brothers (the duo behind The Matrix) bombed spectacularly with their $160 million revision of Speed Racer. The standard formulas for Hollywood hits -- marquee actor, pricey special effects, sexy starlets – just aren’t working like they used to.
A look at the year’s most talked about films and recent box office numbers shows the public wants more than big names. From well-known icons like Iron Man, Batman, and the Incredible Hulk to fringe characters Hellboy and The Spirit, the public is on a full-on superhero binge.
Read the rest of the post »
Light on Opportunity or Light on Interest?
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/05/08/presidential-candidates-have-little-opportunity-to-talk-about-education.html?PageNr=1A US News & World Report article published earlier this month provides an accurate overview of how education has been treated on the presidential campaign trail so far this election cycle.
In short, education has played an insignificant role in both of the primaries, and appears to be headed in the same direction in the general election. None of the three remaining candidates have staked out bold positions on the most important K-12 and higher education issues, and none of them have made much in the way of headlines in terms of promises or policy proposals.
Both Senators Obama and Clinton appear to be content with criticizing funding levels for NCLB, clamoring for increased loans to help with college affordability, and drawing moderate lines on teacher pay and quality initiatives. One disjunction between the two is that Senator Clinton has toed the teachers union supported line of rewarding teachers based on how well whole schools are doing whereas Senator Obama has taken the more controversial stance of rewarding only those individual teachers who are dramatically improving student achievement.
For his part, Senator McCain has had even less to say about education. He doesn't even yet have a full education platform published on his campaign website, and has really only issued standard GOP responses on education, trumpeting such ideas as school choice, merit pay for teachers, charter schools, and sometimes even vouchers. To the degree that education remains a low-priority issue, it will benefit Senator McCain since he has little expertise on the matter, especially given a traditional Democratic advantage among voters who consider education to be a key election day issue.
My only challenge to the article regarding low attention paid to education on the campaign trail is to the title. US News has the piece printed under the headline, "Presidential Candidates Have Little Opportunity to Talk About Education." I question whether this gets to the heart of the matter, or if it actually gives the candidates a bit more credit than they deserve regarding this issue which, after all, may be one of the most pressing policy matters facing our nation's future.
To me, the presidential candidates have plenty of opportunity to address whatever issues they deem to be important. After all, we're talking about candidates who give multiple speeches each day talking about all of the changes they'd like to make to the country. Senator McCain, for instance, has had no trouble making headlines with his unique views on global warming and climate change--issues which he has raised on his own, without having to wait for the right "opportunity". In other words, I'm afraid the candidates have not lacked in opportunity to address education, but have instead lacked sufficient interest to make it a crucial topic. And if you're wondering why none of the candidates (not just this year, but really for the past half-century since K-12 education has become a federal issue) have made K-12 school reform a priority, allow me to ask you a question to offer a hint why education will take a backseat for the foreseeable future: how many elementary, middle, and high school students are allowed to vote?
Kentucky and Oregon Youth Turnout
Tuesday's primary brought out the young people in the Pacific Northwest and folks in a southern state to weigh in on their decision for president. Sen. Hillary Clinton won Kentucky by a 35% margin and Sen. Barack Obama won Oregon by a 16% margin.
Participating in those elections were 180,000 voters under the age of 30 according to CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement).
Because no one does exit polls in the Republican Primary, there are no ways to calculate the extent of young voters that cast ballots for GOP candidates yesterday. This means that while there were 180,000 who voted for democratic candidates, there were more young people that were not counted and were voting in their own party's primary.
Interestingly, when examining the exit polls for Kentucky, 71 percent of those surveyed said they decided the candidate of their choice further than a month ago.
The demographics of both states indicate an overwhelming majority of voters were Caucasian white voters, a majority of which make under $50,000 a year. But their choices and reasons for their choices couldn't have been more different.
In Kentucky, 53 percent of those surveyed by the exit polls said that Sen. Obama's and his pastor Rev. Wright share the same opinions. When asked if race was a factor in their decision, 21 percent of voters said yes, and of those yes votes nearly all voted for Hillary Clinton (81 percent).
I'm not an expert, but I also believe that there were some primary crashers yesterday as well. With closer examination of the exit polls, 32 percent of those surveyed who voted in the democratic primary said that they will cast a ballot for Sen. John McCain in November. Of those who said they would vote for McCain a whopping 85 percent vote for Sen. Clinton yesterday.
In both Oregon and Kentucky an overwhelming majority declare the economy to be one of their biggest concerns. In Kentucky 44 percent say that they have been affected by the recession.
The blog watch numbers over at DailyKos were welcoming for those like me who didn't have access to a TV last night. A particularly funny moment came when Kos posted the 40 percent reporting mark for Oregon
" Vote by raceWhite (85%): 55-O, 43-C
Vote by Income
Less than $50,000 (40%): 52-O, 46-C
Cue exploding heads...."
Sometimes the reporters on TV (aka talking heads) like to say that it's all about race. It will be interesting to explain how they explain the votes in Oregon.
Can We Have Real Democracy in a Two-Party System?
Like generations before them, Millennials lament the two-party system. They want more choices, more accurate representations of their ideals and values. As one student in CIRCLE's study measuring political attitudes among college students, said, "I think everyone is just too afraid to agree with one another because there's this mindset where you have to either be completely Democratic or completely Republican."
The two-party system controlled by the Democrats and Republicans shuts out voices of other, legitimate political parties and interests. Other forces, such as the media, have colluded with the two major parties in order to define America's political choices. A fellow WireTap writer, Kameelah Rasheed, has criticized already some of the positions of the Democratic candidates, as not her cup of tea.
So here's my -- unabashedly -- very unoriginal plan that can move us close to a multi-party system in the next few elections. Let's move to small towns and big cities in states across the country, to affect very local elections, such as city and school boards. Conservatives have already done just that - created small pockets of conservatism by controlling local school boards.
Let's say there is an existing party, Party M, that has a small presence in towns and cities all over the country. We then identify where elected seats could be won. One vote really matters in local elections and our experience in peer-to-peer outreach and online fundraising can make us a serious voting bloc for any local election. Assuming we win, we next build upon that base, getting more Party M candidates elected to municipal- and city-level seats. After securing those seats, we can now make a run at state districts, and so on. The goal isn't to get one person elected to the highest office, but to elect many people in many different localities and in many different states. This way is very grassroots, which is to our advantage, and it is more pluralistic than segregating oneself in a political oasis. We join the system, but with fresh ideas and attitudes, and more importantly, we bring a progressive ideology that won't bent to the politics of those before us. And we offer others another choice.
Now is the time because of today's political engagement and the evolving work culture. Millennials are energized and participating in politics at level not seen since 1992, perhaps earlier. The presence is real and it's already helping to decide this election's outcome. Not only has voting been up in all the primaries, save New York, but young people have been the face of politics in the media and on the campaign trail. So, we must use this energy to make seismic changes in the political system, just as in other areas of civic engagement. Isn't that why we're getting involved in the first place?
We are not limited to a few geographic locations, and picking the right community is not as difficult as before. Millennials are demanding a change in work culture that allows us to work from where we want to live (and where we want to bring democracy). For example, one of my colleagues works full-time from her home in Chicago; our office, where I work, is in Washington, DC. I've encouraged her to run for school board and I hope that she does, but as a third party candidate.
Some Millennials don't want to choose between the two parties, but still we give into the system. But this moment is our chance to carry forth on our lofty goals and ambitions. Let's leap at the opportunity, because we've arrived.
Raw Deal Fuels New Deal
This weekend Demos hosted a conference that focused solely on the economic black hole the Millennial Generation seems to be spiraling into.
"This generation of young people are engaging in politics in a way we haven't seen for a long time," said Tamara Draut, Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos, author of a new report, "The Economic State of Young America," and also a book entitled Strapped: Why America's 20-and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead.
"They are reeling from the effects of a decades-long retrenchment in the investments and public policies that helped previous generations work or educate their way into the middle class. This conference is the first step in building a sustained movement of young people to repair our social contract and build a better future."
In conjunction with The Center for American Progress, a recent report was released regarding the state of the economy and its specific effects and attitudes for/by young people. On the conference call linked from the CAP page above, Tamara Draut specifically says that "Millennials are having the hardest time educating themselves into the middle class."
Her recent article in the March edition of the American Prospect also says that 18-29 year olds are
"very likely to be the first generation to not surpass the living standards of their parents. Evidence of their declining economic opportunities and security abound, from widespread debt to lower earnings in today's labor market for all but those with advanced degrees."
Mike Connery's recap of the conference call and report details a fascinating point:
"The real significance of CAP's research is that all the data is compiled from long-term studies and surveys. That allows them to speak not only to the concerns of Millennials, but to compare those concerns to those of Generation X and the late Baby Boomers when they were of a comparable age. In doing so, they help dispel the myth that voters become more conservative as they age (what the study calls "lifecycle factors"), and paints a picture of a generation that is far more progressive than its predecessors ever were. The CAP report argues that this is evidence of a long-term, generational shift towards a more progressive set of political beliefs.
Paul Starr has some potential ideas for building the young middle class in his piece A New Deal of their Own:
"Beyond health care, however, the GI Bill may provide the most relevant model. It was the one concerted effort in recent history to focus public resources on expanding opportunity for young adults, and it had a big pay-off in postwar prosperity."
I really love Jack Cafferty on this:
I wish I had some answers, but if I did, I'd probably be writing somewhere a lot less entertaining. What do you think is the worst place you are feeling the squeeze?
A Youth Movement, Not a Cult
Young people aren't always liberals. And the majority didn't always vote for Democrats.
Surprised? No, for real, are you?
The eighties are remembered mostly for its pop culture, but the decade was also famous for Reagan and the expansion of the Republican Party. The plurality of young people in that decade, like other age groups, voted for Reagan and identified with the G.O.P. In other words, the G.O.P. attracted more young voters than the Democratic Party while Reagan was in office.
In 1988, young people helped elect George H.W. Bush into the Oval Office. That was also the last time when more young people voted for the G.O.P. than Democrats.
The next decade was then when the Democrat's began to ride on a wave of youth energy and participation, which was reinforced at the beginning of the new century. Bill Clinton's victory in 1992 was helped in part by the second highest recorded turnout of young people since 1972 -- 52 percent. (pdf)
Even though young people have favored the Democrats since 1992, it hasn't always been by an overwhelming margin; young people were split more evenly in 1998 and 2000. Gore won the plurality of the youth vote in 2000, but only by a 2 percentage-point margin. (pdf)
This was followed by a burst in youth support in 2004; the margin soared to nine percentage points in favor of Kerry. More recently, in the 2006 Congressional house races, 58 percent of young people supported a Democratic Candidate. (pdf) Moreover, the plurality of young voters identified with the Democratic Party, a 12 percentage point advantage over the G.O.P. And even more recently, in the 2008 primary contests, for which we have exit poll data for both parties, roughly three-quarters of all young voters participated in the Democratic primary.
So yes, divisive politics turns out voters -- of all stripes -- and young voters are no different. In 2004 and 2006, young voters came out in larger numbers -- by a greater margin -- than any other age group. The 2008 primary season is no different.
But what is different in this election, isn't just the energy, it's proof that the strategy of reaching out to young voters works. The growing support for Democrats, especially in this primary season, is partly the result of direct and tailored outreach to young people; the GOP is not putting as much effort into recruiting young voters.
Youth outreach matters, as in, it just might win you an election, especially when the Millennials are about to surpass the Baby Boomers generation in numbers. Democrats were the first to recognize this in the 2008 election.
Party affiliation, and more importantly, preferences are not dictated by time and age, but through the strength of the argument made in its case. Progressives have been making their case now for years, and most are not buying into any stereotypes about young voters. This is a movement that is years in the making and still growing.
Indiana and North Carolina Outcomes
In the most exciting news I've seen on election coverage, The Washington Post declares young voters to be one of the winners of last night's election.
"No age group has been more ridiculed for their lack of participation than those under 30. But in Indiana that age group comprised 16 percent of the overall vote while those 65 or older comprised 15 percent. Under 30s went for Obama 61 percent to 39 percent, a margin that all but neutralized Clinton's 44 percent margin among older Hoosiers."
And those were the ones who were able to vote! The US Supreme Court decided to uphold Indiana's Voter ID law they "rejected arguments that Indiana’s law imposes unjustified burdens on people who are old, poor or members of minority groups and less likely to have driver’s licenses or other acceptable forms of identification."
What was rejected by the Supremes was seen in Tuesday's elections. According to a release by the Student PIRGs
"Student PIRG New Voters Project staff stationed at polling locations near Indiana campuses today are beginning to hear from young voters turned away at the polls for a failure to meet voter identification laws upheld by the Supreme Court last week....
19-year-old Angela Hiss, a sophomore and computer science major at the University of Notre Dame, was turned away from the polls this afternoon, as she attempted to vote in her first election. After arriving at her polling location, she presented several forms of identification - her school ID, a piece of mail that showed her campus address and an Illinois driver’s license – but was misinformed that she could not vote because she could not show in-state ID. Poll-workers, according to Hiss, also did not advise her that she could cast a provisional ballot, as required by state and federal law. Instead, they suggested visiting local Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain the in-state identification required by Indiana’s newly-upheld law...
19-year-old Allyson Miller, a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame and volunteer at a local children’s clinic was similarly turned away from the polls today. An Indiana resident since the age of five, Miller left her driver’s license in her dorm room, and arrived straight from class at the polls with her school ID and registration confirmation papers from the County Registrar. Upon arriving, however, poll-workers did not allow her to vote without a state-issued ID. "I plan to come back because voting is a big deal to me," said Miller, "but it’s a huge inconvenience, especially with a final tomorrow."
19-year-old Becky Jenkins, a sophomore and member of the tennis team at Butler University was also unable to vote in her first election today. "I didn’t know that I had to have an Indiana ID," she said after she was turned away from the polls for attempting to cast her ballot using a driver's licenses issued by the State of Illinois. When asked if she would instead cast a provisional ballot, Jenkins also said her travel plans wouldn’t allow her to."
Similar accounts were heard by elderly nuns who were also prevented from voting
"The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn't get one but came to the precinct anyway. One came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, 'I don't want to go do that,'" Sister McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drives.
Read the rest of the post »
Young Religious Voters Focus on Social Justice
A new piece from The Associated Press suggests that some young voters of faith will be voting with regard to social justice issues. The piece notes the drastic diversion from the 2000 and 2004 elections, when so-called religious voters turned out in droves for President Bush.
There is "a growing number of other young, left-leaning believers are entering the political arena as campaign aides, lobbyists, grass-root activists and engaged voters. They are trying to expand the focus of faith-based politics beyond the religious right's hot-button issues of abortion and gay marriage. And they are placing social justice issues, like poverty and war, at the intersection of their moral and political decision making...
"In three decades I've never seen this sort of student-youth involvement," said Jim Wallis, author of the best-seller "The Great Awakening." "I do think there's a major shift under way."
The shift of young faith-based voters both dramatic and complex. "They're leaving the Republican Party in droves, but they're not automatically Democrats," Wallis said. "They're not going to jump in the pocket of the Democratic Party the way they did with the Republican Party."
As we've seen in the past, many young people are using their traditional beliefs to extend beyond single-issue candidacies and so-called values campaigns to decide for themselves what the issue du jour is. But these newly-named social values and reborn politics are more slated for the ever-growing Independent Party or "decline to state" voters.
And according to some, that may account for the major calling from faith based voters under 30 who contribute to the success of candidates like Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee.
"The message that Barack Obama tends to have definitely appeals to people in my generation, especially people in the faith and justice movement," said Jon Gromek, a 22-year-old organizing associate at Network, a Catholic social justice group based in Washington.
Gromek, who favors Obama, majored in theology and political science and sees his faith-based social work as part of a larger generational shift. "There's a growing movement of people, especially youth, who are ready to work on these issues, whether from a political or social standpoint."
One thing is for certain, these same beliefs are affecting the non-profit organizations across the country. More social justice organizations have developed in the past several years to fight genocide and help children in war-torn areas, not to mention hundreds of domestic-based organizations.
Whether through elections or issue campaigns, giving voice to young values has brought to light issues that campaigns often times lack and I believe our country is all the better for having the dialogue.
Tough Education Choice for Sen. McCain
A great blog called "Education Election" has been running courtesy of the National Education Writers Association at Edelection. It covers news stories in which presidential candidates have discussed education, and adds a good bit of analysis as well.
One intriguing note is that Barack Obama has made news with his positions and proposals for education a total of 37 times since the start of the campaign season, Hillary has been covered 34 times, and John McCain has been covered only 10 times. Though it doesn't mean anything about the content or quality of their views on education, there may be some conclusion that is reachable regarding the priority with which each campaign views education as an election issue.
You don't need to take it from me or the education writers association, however. You can take it from the McCain campaign itself, which has all but admitted that education will not play a major role in his campaign. Indeed, "education" only appeared on the issues section of his website very recently, and he has refrained from virtually any substantive discussion thus far.
Why has the Arizona Senator said so little about schools and school reform? This terrific article by Richard Whitmire on Politico.com explains it well. Basically, McCain has a choice to make. On the one hand, he can do what most GOP nominees have done for the past quarter-century and minimize education as a federal election issue by mostly talking up school choice, empowering parents, and avoiding tougher issues around NCLB and accountability. This is what worked for Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush.
On the other hand, Senator McCain can do what the current President Bush did back in 2000 and 2004, which was to encroach upon traditionally democratic territory by pushing more centrist and aggressive reforms such as charter schools, teacher quality reform, and other ideas that are less appealing to the Republican base but more promising from a student achievement perspective.
Which one will he choose? It looks like the former right now, except for the fact that his chief education advisor is a woman named Lisa Graham Keegan -- a real firecracker who has made major waves as chief of schools in Arizona and as the head of a DC based group called the Education Leaders Council (*full disclosure -- I worked for Ms. Keegan as an intern back in 2001 and was quite impressed with her passion for finding solutions to help children learn*). Arizona is perhaps the premier state in the country when it comes to putting conservative talking points on school reform into action, as it has widely available charter schools, vouchers, and other parent choice mechanisms in play. The results haven't been conclusive however -- one study, at least, has gone so far as to rank Arizona last in K-12 education outcomes.
It will bear watching in the coming months, while the Dems continue to slug it out, whether Sen. McCain sets up an aggressive reform agenda on education, or whether he lets it serve as a back-burner issue to Iraq and national security.
Also, I wanted to leave you with this humorous video from Comedy Central's the Colbert Report that is education-related:
The League of Pennsylvania Voters
Liz Rincon is the state director for the Pennsylvania League of Young Voters, and while she's only been organizing on the ground for more a few months she's done a lot.
"This was never supposed to happen. I think everyone was unprepared for this because Pennsylvania has never mattered before!" she said over the phone between spirits of answering questions to shouting voices in the background.
The League has worked non-stop for the past several years to energize community members to help engage "sometimes" and "never" voters into participating in the primary elections this year because it helps encourage more consistent voting in the general election as well as other elections.
"It's a catalyst," Rincon said. "There is a lot of excitment this year and a lot of get out the vote, when too often we are ignored. This will really help us, not just this year, but with all elections in the future down to our mayoral elections, even...
The major question is if they [candidates] will come back and holding them accountable for the things they say here. Will they come here and do the town hall [meetings] in the general election? We have to keep people engaged."
Time will tell about the general election, but for now the turnout in Pennsylvania has been substantial. When asked about the campaign activity among the Republican candidates Rincon told me that while The League was non-partisan the GOP was not engaged at all because they didn't have to be. With Republican candidate John McCain as a shoe-in, the democratic candidates had the monopoly on the enthusiasm in the state.
There were some problems reported in voting in PA that one blogger reported the encounters faced by a friend in Pittsburgh, PA:
"New voters were sent cards in the mail with the wrong polling place. Her voting site was a construction area, and she subsequently spent 40 minutes wandering the streets with other would-be voters. Eventually they got the number for campaign headquarters and found the polling area several blocks away."
Another came from someone who emailed friends of mine who said that he recently signed up to vote by the deadline, had a copy of his registration form, and proof that it was received by the necessary authorities before the date, but was not on the voter rolls. Electronic voting problems were also reported in places.
You can view preliminary exit polling via the chart to the right from Mike over at Future Majority. In the end the Hip-Hop Research and Education Fund says that of the 218,923 new voter registration in Pennsylvania since January 2008, 70 percent of new registrants are between 18 and 35 years of age.
According to Jane Flemming Kleeb at Young Voter's PAC
"The youth share of the overall electorate was 3 percent points above the average share for 2004. This number is consistent with the increased turnout in other states and an increased share compared to the last two general elections."
The report from CIRCLE (pdf) shows a 14 percent increase in turnout for voters under 30 and young voters were 12 percent of the total vote share.