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Throughout its rocky rise to becoming the nation's most crucial swing state, Florida has had one electoral constant: the battle for its prized 27 votes has centered on its politically motivated retirees and condo commandos. In fact, if there is any key state where Barack Obama's focus on the youth vote wouldn't seem to be much of an asset, it's Florida, where discussions of Social Security and Medicare have traditionally trumped all other issues. But the once easily pigeonholed demographics in the Sunshine State are changing, and many pundits say the 30-and-under crowd could...
...helped by the fact that he's vastly outspending McCain at their schools - part of the Obama campaign's vow to shell out a whopping $39 million in Florida this fall. "We too are saturating Facebook,"says York, whose group has reached out to younger voters with slogans like "Vote for the Hero and the Hottie," referring to McCain and his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. "But the Republican Party needs to get more serious and creative about this group...
...question is whether this group - which always talks an idealistic game but tends to sleep in on election day - has gotten more serious about actually turning out to vote. More than 150,000 voters under age 30 voted in Florida's Democratic primary this year, despite the fact that Obama didn't even campaign there because the national party had ruled the election wouldn't count. (That was due to Florida changing its primary date in violation of both GOP and Democratic Party rules). Almost 135,000 in that age group voted in the state's Republican primary. Those figures...
...That's hardly certain yet, especially since younger voters will still have to prove they can keep up with their elders, who are famous for turnout rates as high as 80% in Florida. They will also have to show that they can affect the vote of Florida blocs like African-Americans and Latinos. Florida's 1.3 million registered black voters, so many of whom felt disenfranchised in the 2000 Florida recount debacle, were uninspired by Democratic candidate John Kerry in 2004 and are a question mark in 2008. As a result, "to a large degree we're counting on young...
...like John McCain does and someone like Barack Obama doesn't." Either way, given how controversially razor-thin Florida electoral victories tend to be these days, the fresh-faced could tip the balance in November - if not with their own ballots, then by convincing their elders which way to vote. One of the most popular videos on YouTube in recent weeks features comedian Sarah Silverman imploring young Jews to "get your fat asses on a plane to Florida" and lobby their grandparents there to vote Obama because "no one is more influential over them" than their grandkids - part...