Big Ideas in Politics: Your Generation - More on Turnout

From Rock the Vote: [Register to Vote via their website]

According to CNN’s exit polls and the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), in nearly every state holding their primary or caucus last night, youth voter turnout increased significantly- doubling, tripling and even quadrupling turnout from 2000 & 2004!

Here are some highlights:
* In Tennessee young voters quadrupled their turnout, up from 35,000 in 2000 to nearly 140,000 young people between the ages of 18-29 casting a vote in last night’s primary.

*In Georgia young voters tripled their turnout with more than 280,000 individuals casting a ballot last night compared to approximately 92,000 ballots cast in 2000.

* In California, more than 850,000 voters under 30 cast ballots, far surpassing 2000 and 2004 levels.

Youth turnout was the winning margin of victory in several states.

*On the Democratic side, Barack Obama won the state of Missouri by just 10,000 votes, propelled to victory by 75,000 young people casting ballots in his favor. And on the Republican side, 45,000 young people voted for Mike Huckabee, far surpassing his 23,000 vote margin of victory. [Read More]

[Register to Vote via their website]

A bit of history (or a pop-culture diversion disguised as history) prompted by this paragraph from the Time Magazine cover story on your generation's role in this election:

If you want to feel old, just tell a group of teenagers today that you can remember a time when the Clintons were hip. There was this guy on TV, see, called Arsenio Hall, and Bill Clinton went on wearing sunglasses and playing a saxophone, and, well, no, it wasn't on YouTube — this was before most people had heard of the Internet — oh, never mind. There's nothing new, for today's young people, about a Clinton replacing a Bush.

Well, I looked, and it turns out that that clip isn't on YouTube. It is, however, available on Arsenio Hall's personal website (though in a mediated VH1 Behind the Music format).
Here's a flashback from the 1992 Presidential Campaign: Bill Clinton woos young voters by playing the saxophone on The Arsenion Hall Show.


Bill Clinton on the Arsenio Hall Show