New York's Lower Hudson Valley quotes the recent poll released by Rock the Vote detailing the enthusiasm by millennials.

"So far, 700,000 have downloaded voter registration forms from the Rock the Vote site, said spokeswoman Chrissy Faessen, 29.

Many young people have rallied around Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, but the millennial generation's excitement is about a lot more than one candidate, she said.

Young voters think they can have an impact on the issues that matter most to them: the economy, the war in Iraq, health care and college affordability, Faessen said.

A recent Rock the Vote poll shows 89 percent of voters 18 to 29 think they have the ability to change the country, and 75 percent think their age group is having a greater-than-usual impact on the election."

OpenLeft founder Matt Stoller (who I have long admired) has been a skeptical observer to youth outreach and the youth vote. This week he acknowledges there is something there... (bless you Stoller.... bless you).

"Young People for the American Way and the Young Elected Officials Network deserve a congratulations today. They set their sites four years ago on building the next generation of leaders, and they are here, running organizations, and getting elected. And three other fellows from Young People for America have announced their candidacies for local elections, including a native American in South Dakota."

The USA Today had an Op-ed that addressed why the GOP is losing young voters. While I agree that the GOP is in fact losing young voters I don't think its for the reasons that are presented (namely social security, mortgage crisis, and taxes... not things young people find to be important - young Libertarians perhaps but not a majority of young people.) Read my buddy Matt Singer's objections to the piece at Campus Progress.

According to Matt

"The simple truth is that Congressional Budget Office numbers say the program is solvent until 2052, when I’ll be turning a ripe 69 years of age. Even at that point, with no reforms, Social Security will meet 81 percent of its obligations. If this is a crisis, the paper cut I just received is a medical emergency."

And my personal favorite an AP piece titled Young Voters Help Start Political Phenom.

"The days of authoritative, hierarchical campaigns are waning. Now reaching the masses, particularly the younger masses, means putting the power in their hands...

Campaign spokespeople are no longer the only ones delivering the candidate's message, said Pete Snyder, CEO of New Media Strategies, which specializes in online and word-of-mouth marketing. "It's not one press secretary, it's hundreds or tens of thousands if you look at all the comments out there on blogs. It's a much more collaborative way to run a campaign."

It's collaborative in a way that looks increasingly familiar in today's pop culture environment of accessible and attainable celebrity. Much of the social discourse these days is rooted in flashy competitions where voters decide who stays or goes on reality shows..." She goes on to say that these shows have created a "culture" of voting for a candidate. Whether its on American Idol or whatever more people are voting for something which brings more people to the table in elections as well.

Free at last....

Over a year ago I did a piece when I first got into blogging called A Big Tent With No One In It that addressed the extent to which the Democratic Party has acted as a top-down mechinism that claims to be "big tent" but in reality isn't inclusive of the productive activist factions, young voters, or bloggers.

Ohhhhh what a difference a year makes.

One of the things that has forced change is the stark contrast between the various campaigns for President. When John Edwards was the first candidate to announce in December 2006 (yes this election really has been going on that long) he did it in a sea of young people all doing cleanup work in New Orleans - and the video was on YouTube.

For the first time in a very long long while there was a candidate who, rightfully so, placed an emphasis on youth and their ability to enact change through their civic involvement and participation in their communities. Further his acceptance of 3rd party sites (ie social networking, photo sharing, and others) as well as embracing bloggers was something only very very few candidates did in 2006. Edwards took it up a notch early.

Obama agreed. No stranger to youth and community outreach, Obama's camp accepted this "non-traditional" form of outreach and generated a successful grassroots model that built on the Edwards and Dean strategies while combining best practices seen by non-profit organizations that have been experimenting with this technology in the past year. What we have is ........ the very model of a modern major grassroots operation, with access to the people not the constant internet constipation. Candidates develop surrogates a thousand or more, all of them the democratic establishment seems to ignore.

I digress... My point is that times they are a changing and in spite of the rolling eyes of the political democratic establishment. Praise the Lord... And today, as incumbent campaigns ramp up in their operations and new candidates step up as challengers, ignoring the internet is not only frowned upon its virtually unallowable (pardon the pun). Because, in the event a candidate chooses to ignore the netroots or the grassroots - they will still rise up and create things on their behalf. See grassroots run social networking sites piece here.

So - all of it interesting all of it great - lots of information here. But I felt like it should be shared!

Have a great Sunday everybody!!

Crossposted to Daily Kos, Please recommend