Crossposted from WiretapMag

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."

According to a release from the Student PIRGs a number of Indiana voters were INCORRECTLY turned away from the polls today and given MISINFORMATION about the validity of their identification preventing them from casting a ballot they legally should have been able to cast.

Let me remind you - that when the US Supreme Court made its decision they decided...

Demos is hosting a great conference this week that will address some of the economic concerns that new workers are facing in this unpredictable, unstable, and darn near frighting economy.

A Better Deal: Reclaiming Economic Security for a New Generation will be May 8-9th, 2008, at The Liaison Capitol Hill in Washington DC. While this is a schlep for many folks there are scholarships and stipends available for need based folks interested in this topic. It would be wonderful if I could attend but ... alas... I cannot. The good news is that Mike Connery at Future Majority will be live blogging the conference and I'm sure there will be helpful multimedia available after the fact.

Former Congressman Jim Slattery is making his way through Kansas today officially announcing his candidacy for the US Senate against Pat Roberts (R).

Slattery for Senate has launched an unbelievable website, beautifully designed (complete with amazing video) showcasing his history of leadership and his life as a Kansan. I've spent the past year poking fun at websites in state and the extent to which people seem far removed from the web 2.0 explosion that has captured everyone in the country except for Kansas. Slattery's team gets technology. Perhaps that's because he's 200 years younger than his opponent. Or because Joe Trippi is consulting.

The US Supreme Court just voted to disproportionately disenfranchises our rights to cast a ballot. Remember that whole thing about democracy and everyone having the right to vote - HA! I bet you thought that was real, right??

UPDATE 2: Rock the Vote recently released statement calling it "supremely wrong."

UPDATE 1: Politico has also reported on the topic

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Liz Rincon is the state director for the Pennsylvania League of Young Voters, and while she hasn't been on the ground organizing for more than several 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.

Campaigns and Elections Magazine is about as wonky as you get outside of polling data, and aside from it being fairly establishment they do tend to talk about some outside the box ideas. I think I've seen them acknowledge young voters three times in my 2 year subscription I bought. Last month's issue headlined their issue with a picture of what looked like a Millennial in a South Park t-shirt, listening to an iPod, and whistling as he walked down the street carrying a copy of The Fountainhead.

A new fun viral video takes the Kansas GOP and national republicans to task for some of the failures we are seeing and urges folks to register to vote.

Crossposted from Future Majority

David Hill, a reporter for The Hill and republican pollster, attacked young voters and their enthusiasm today by directly targeting Heather Smith, executive Director of Rock the Vote. His argument is illogical, insubstantial, poorly researched, and dishonest.

Crossposted from Wiretap

First, let me just say that I told you McCain would win. And Mike Huckabee conceded with a lovely speech about a pitcher that is always waiting and ready in the event the other pitcher can't make it. Media folks are speculating if this is Huck making a comment about being VP? Or is this a crack about McCain being so old he's nearing death? I think that this was actually a comment about Mike Huckabee's new career in baseball.

Last night's primary and caucuses brought another opportunity for us to measure the successes of the youth vote. All of the following are for 17-29 year olds and can be found by combing through the CNN Exit polls.

This week after the Kansas GOP primary I got a tip off about a piece in a local Kansas paper about the caucus and the comparable turnout. Understandably, there was immense turnout for the Democratic caucus and not so much for the GOP despite the fact that the GOP caucus was infinitely more convenient - being on a Saturday morning which wasn't plagued with a blizzard.

Crossposted from EDC
I must warn you that this is a very personal blog for me. There is nothing I take more seriously than my position among our readers. And there is nothing I take more seriously than my loyalty to a candidate, a cause, and a movement.

I just had to tell ya'll about this because its something that makes me crazy.

Last year around Christmas time - the Kansas GOP sent out what I'm sure they thought was a normal everyday fundraising email. What they mistakenly did was talk about all the great work they are doing and talked about their Vote Caging program.

I found out about two new young candidates in Kansas stepping up to the plate to run for office. I'm learning more and more about young candidates across the country and always love to shill for them as I go.