The Race for Ohio 2008

The democratic party seams every year to have hope for the younger generation. Obamas campaign this past year has had a large focus on the young voter. Obama is and has positioned himself to be a candidate of the new. He may not know what it was like to fight in Vietnam but he appears to have a greater understanding than his opponent when it comes to technology and other issues that America will face as we go in to the future. However I think that a fundamental flaw that the campaign has made is that it is dependent on young people or even younger minded to be so excited by him as a candidate that they would get out to help, and make a difference in the campaign. There are many volunteers that have helped out but the issue is that youth do not want to help where it is actually needed they want to help out where it looks good. I had received received many calls stressing the importance of voter registration, on the RIT campus specifically. The Obama campaign estimated that there were over 1, 500 possible votes in Ohio and PA that could be cast from the RIT campus. When looking at a swing state 1,000 votes is a large deal especially on a college campus because votes tend to be favorably democratic. However student volunteers today are not looking at making a difference but having a good time while doing it. Voters were not registered by students on the campus but by outside volunteers. I believe when looking at the included graph voter turnout being so low in the younger generation may in some effect be because thease students, and young professionals as heard many times before think that nothing will make a difference, and because they never try because it does not help them they never get a first hand view of politics and government and a further understanding of the campaigns they see on TV and thus an understanding of the importance of their singular vote to those running that they remain disillusioned from politics.