Even more oh-eight

Posted: Monday, May 14, 2007 9:10 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Democrats, Republicans

Is it just us, or are there always optimistic stories about the role of the youth vote 18 months before an election -- which are then followed by "what happened to the youth vote" stories written days before and after the actual election. Anyhow, the Sunday Boston Globe does the youth-vote-could-be-a-powerful-entity-in-'08 story. The most important take-away (worrisome for Republicans) is how Democratic the 18-24 crowd is skewing.

Salon's Scherer does a fascinating piece on how campaigns use the Drudge Report. Here's a key graph. "Some campaign aides have suggested that Drudge's personal relationships have played a role in what oppo leaks he posts on the site. "I think it's clear that Romney has gotten fairer treatment from Matt Drudge than any other candidate. There is a lot less negative Romney stuff," said the senior Republican campaign aide. "It stems back to what many people believe is a very good relationship between the Romney team and Matt Drudge."

But the piece does not get into which Democratic campaign Drudge seems to have the best relationship with. We know who it’s not – Obama’s, which has received the lion's share of negative Drudge headlines on the Dem side.

The New York Times on Bloomberg and his possible White House bid: "So it goes with Mr. Bloomberg, who simultaneously rejects and stokes the idea that he might run for president, all the while sharpening his national profile and allowing behind-the-scenes machinations just in case he decides to make an independent bid for the White House."

And Chuck Hagel's Face the Nation appearance stoked the Bloomberg-Hagel indie rumors again. Among Hagel's choice quotes: “‘I am not happy with the Republican Party today,’ Hagel said. ‘It's been hijacked by a group of single-minded almost isolationists, insulationists, power-projectors.’”

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Comments

Maybe the Drudge is a Morman?? Could we just ease up on the 295 people running for Pres....lets wait till the smoke clears and we know who is really serious and electable. Sick to death of so much news about nothing...who cares what color dress Rudy wears.

H P Boston, Ma. (Sent Monday, May 14, 2007 10:49 AM)

Maybe what Mitt is saying is what the american people want to hear. I think Romney would whip Hillary in a one on one. Mitt has success turning around state goverments, companies and the olympics. Hillary was involved in some of the most embarrassing political moments in the 90's. Romney's family seems to have the heads on right, while Hillary has a skirt chaser for a husband. I just heard that Rush Limbaugh has been invited by Dianne feinstein to address a meeting this summer on capital hill and give a speech to the student pages working in congress, that is too funny. What next, Sean Hannitty invited to spend the weekend at John Edward's house and Laura Ingram sailing on San Fransciso bay with Nancy Pelosi?

jerry/corpus christi texas (Sent Monday, May 14, 2007 12:40 PM)

Mitt roammey was never in Massachuetts long enough to be a Govenor. He was the worst..raised EVERY SINGLE FEE, left us with a huge deficit and had the nerve to pretend to be a DEMOCRAT..he touted prochoice, pro gay marriage and lied his Mormon head off. Not a good guy, He is cute and his hair looks good but he is full of crap. You do know about Crap jerry. YOU are so right on, mitt loves to tell people what they want to hear, you seem to be the only one drinking that Kool-Aid.

H P Boston, Ma. (Sent Monday, May 14, 2007 2:13 PM)

too much Brylcream---he has gotten rid of the caterpillar eyebrows he did have---gues he did not like looking like george.Other than that he is the fastest dancer on the gop circut

HMT (Sent Monday, May 14, 2007 4:56 PM)

Mark is wrong. Young people are voting. The increase in young voter turnout is not a myth or “fuzzy math.” Contrary to initial media reports, the 2004 elections marked the largest increase in young voter turnout since 1972. Over 20 million young people ages 18-29 case a ballot (42 million were eligible to vote), an increase of 4.3 million voters. This was a 9 point increase in turnout over 2000, more than double that of any other age group. In 2004, there were more voters under 30 years old than voters over 65 years old. Same thing happened in 2006 -- approximately 10 million young voters went to the polls, up nearly 2 million from 2002, according to 2006 exit poll analysis. And they're already engaged for 2008. According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 77% of 18-29 years olds say they are interested in local politics, up 28 points from 1999, and 87% are interested in national affairs.

Alexandra Acker, Washington, DC (Sent Monday, May 14, 2007 7:44 PM)

Drudge gives the lion share of negative because it's known that Hillary is paying him. Not a secret. what stuns me is that the msm repeats it like it's true. Oh, yeah, you guys also did that with iraq and the Bush administration. You guys also failed to check out Bush when he was governor of texas because you wanted him to win. that is known as well. And the youth is getting involved in voting big time. My son, who never cared about politics until the summer of 04, and then got excited about a guy running to be our senator and now a president. he is ready to vote now. If you saw all the young people on his website you would know this. Tons of them have started or belong to groups and blog on it all the time impressing the need for Obama to win and Hillary to be defeated. I agree with this. We must defeat dynasties and dictatorships and candidates feeling entitled. And the need to have the msm stop trying to force their establishment candidate at us. We will make up our own minds. Drudge and the msm do not understand the people and the mood out here.

dlake (Sent Monday, May 14, 2007 11:41 PM)

Mark - It may be true that in elections past there was youth vote "hype." But in the most recent two major elections - 2004 and 2006 - stories touting the growing and active youth vote have been abundant because young voters have turned out in big numbers and made a major electoral impact. Twenty million strong in 2004 - 4.3 million more than in 2000, the largest turnout increase since 18 year olds won the right to vote in 1972 - and another two million vote jump in 2006 (over 2002 levels) is significant and a very good sign for our democracy. Even more, growing young voter turnout is a major political story: in 2004, 18-29 year old voters (20 million) rivaled the size of the 65+ electorate (23 million), and in 2006, the increase in young voter turnout made the difference in several races, including the Montana and Virginia Senate and the 2nd Congressional District in Connecticut. This seriously challenges the political community's "conventional wisdom" that young voters can be ignored in an election - and because of this we're already starting to see politicians pay attention and court young voters going in 2008. So while I can understand a base of skepticism, the last two election cycles, the size of the Millennial Generation, and the energy of today's young voters make them a major story going into 2008 - well deserving coverage in the news.

Kat Barr, Washington, D.C. (Sent Tuesday, May 15, 2007 11:33 AM)

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