Looking for Young Election 2008 Reporters

Check out this opportunity from WireTap:

You know that we are witnessing what may be the most important election of our lifetime. For the first time in decades, the future of education, jobs, climate change, national security, immigration -- almost every major issue that young people care about is being debated by passionate and dynamic presidential candidates. As young voters are coming out in record numbers, WireTap magazine is thrilled to partner up with Rock the Vote to support the work of five emerging reporters for Rock the Trail project.

http://www.rockthevote.com/rockthetrail

These young reporters will rock their local, state and presidential campaign trails to deliver insightful and compelling blogs, articles and videos from the communities they live in, reporting on young people's top issues. Rock the Trail reporters will help make this election relevant, fun and meaningful for new voters.

The issues and voices of Rock the Trail reporters will be posted on RocktheVote.com, WireTapMag.org, BET.com, and will also be available for viewing on AT&T mobile phones. In addition, we will be working with the WashingtonPost.com to contribute unique perspectives complementary to the site's vast coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Entries will be judged by the staff of Rock the Vote and WireTap, as well as an advisory panel of distinguished journalists including:

- Jeff Chang, award-winning author of 'Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the
Hip Hop Generation'
- Sian-Pierre Regis, producer, BET News
- Peter Rothberg, associate publisher, The Nation magazine
- Jose Antonio Vargas, political feature writer, The Washington Post.

Rock the Trail reporters will be paid a $500 monthly stipend and supplied with a laptop, cell phone and video camera to rock the 2008 campaign trail. Rock the Trail
reporters will work approximately 10-15 hours a week from May 15 to November 30.

So, if you're a U.S. citizen between the ages of 18-29 and interested in reporting on one of the most exciting times in U.S. politics, please visit:

http://www.rockthevote.com/rockthetrail

Deadline to complete an application: May 7th (not a minute after 11:59pm).

Should 16 Year Olds Vote?

After Super Tuesday, The New York Times (who I love more and more each day) rand this article: You’re 16, You’re Beautiful and You’re a Voter. It is a great article about raising expectations for our young people and the positive effects it can have on their civic participation and future. The article discusses more then just voting, including ways to phase in credit card use for younger people to avoid some of the issues of the exploitative lending policies on college campuses.

Wiretap blogged about this to. What do you think? I don't think it will happen right now, young people vote Democrat, and younger people's votes can be influenced by their parents, and too many people don't want either of those things to happen.

I think it might be a good idea. It is similar argument that I have made to lowering the drinking age in the past. I think we should be doing what we can to let people ease there way into adulthood, versus thrusting it upon them when they don't have the same support structure that they had in their early youth.

Also worth noting:

I added two new links today.

The Chedder Box The writings of an Asian American, Oakland California soldier who now resides in the Dirty South. He like politics, sports and entertainment, and provides a good insight into the social justice movement.

and

OhDang! Founded by Arjay Das, Zoneil Maharaj, Donna Tam, Brenda Tam and May Suen, OHDANG! is an independent webzine serving as an outlet and voice for today's urban culture. With a focus on arts, lifestyle and (sub)culture, combined with commentary and personal narratives, Their hope is to translate thier voices across cultural, racial, age and gender boundaries. Or something along those lines.

Both are fairly new webzines with a youth focused political edge. I encourage you to check them out when you get the chance.

Post Caucus Wrap Up

Wow, I don't even know where to go from here... Obama won the Iowa Caucus, and Edwards came in second, and Clinton came in 3rd. I didn't think that Iowa would go that way, although it broke down pretty much like the last poll said it should.

From Wiretap's article on the primary:

The Iowa youth turnout rate has almost tripled since 2000. Participation of youth under 30 rose from 3 percent in 2000 to 11 percent in 2008. The turnout rate for those 30 and above was 15 percent. Among 17- to 29-year-old Democrats, 57 percent supported the winner, Barack Obama, and among 17- to 29-year-old Republicans, 40 percent supported the winner, Mike Huckabee, according to CNN's entrance poll.

Wiretap also notes that Obama's Campaign gives the youth vote credit for his win.

YDA's Executive Director Al Acker said in the YDA Press Release:

“The Young Voter Revolution continued in Iowa tonight, with young voters again showing they will turn out when targeted,” said Alexandra Acker, Executive Director of the Young Democrats of America. “Young voters were the margin of victory for Barack Obama tonight and they will by the margin of victory to propel our Democratic nominee to victory in November.

Michael Moore's comments point out that support for the war was rejected.

Over 70% of Iowan Democrats voted for candidates who either never voted for the invasion of Iraq (Obama, Richardson, Kucinich) or who have since admitted their mistake (Edwards, Biden, Dodd). I can't tell you how bad I feel for Senator Clinton tonight. I don't believe she was ever really for this war. But she did -- and continued to do -- what she thought was the politically expedient thing to eventually get elected. And she was wrong. And tonight she must go to sleep wondering what would have happened if she had voted her conscience instead of her calculator.

Future Majority Reporting that the youth vote was over three times what it was over the last few cycles.

Young voters are increasingly moving in the direction of Democrats, and tonight, the Obama campaign - thanks to a savvy youth operation that reached out on Facebook and MySpace, at high schools and on college campuses - was able to capitalize on that to attain victory. His win confirms what many have been saying for years now: young people will vote if you pay attention to the, speak to their issues, and reach out. New technologies can certainly help make that initial connection, yet it's still good old fashioned face to face politicking - peer to peer organizing - that makes the difference. Years ago, when young people began voting Republican during the Reagan Era, Democrats stopped asking young voters to participate. Tonight's victory shows what individual candidates, and the Democratic Party stand to gain by courting today's young voters.

And each campaign has released comments. I can't wait to see how things go in NH.

Speaking of the Future Establishment

This is an article that I went to read on the Wiretap website, Alternet's news targeting young people. Much to my suprise local Young Democrat and City Commissioner Andrew Gillum was staring back at me! At that moment I knew that it was going to be the next blog post. This article is about the current model of progressive activism on college campuses and the huge number of small organizations focusing on their own issues.

Speaking of the Future Establishment
By Kristina Rizga, AlterNet
Posted on August 1, 2005, Printed on August 12, 2005

On July 13, a large auditorium at the Washington Convention Center lit by 19th-century chandeliers wasn't hosting the usual crowd of elderly men in gray suits. For the first time in 30 years of liberal organizing, Campus Progress brought together over 600 progressive twenty-something activists to the capital of political establishment.
Recovering from the steady stream of recent defeats, liberals argue over the future of the Democratic Party. And as with the recent AFL-CIO split, there is no agreement on winning strategy in sight. Progressives blame the centrist '90s and want to move away from corporate sponsors to pulling together a new, lower- and middle-class majority of Americans. But beltway moderates can't seem to abandon conservative-leaning elites.
Political differences aside, progressive grassroots organizers seem to agree on one point. While the left has been more effective in local activism, including college campuses, when it comes to national politics the right dominates the agenda more than ever.
Over the past 30 years, right-wing groups poured over $35 million annually to college campuses. Even though a vast majority of students identify themselves as being closer to the left, for every progressive publication on college campus, there are two conservative ones. When it comes to affecting national agenda, conservative groups have been more effective at organizing students, in large part, through campus publications.
But it looks like this trend could be changing. Campus Progress--a division of the Center for American Progress--is the only group in the U.S. today that financially supports progressive publications on college campuses. It currently sponsors 14 progressive publications, with plans to hit 50 next year, helps students bring progressive speakers to their schools and organizes national editorial conference calls. Student publishers receive money for printing, training and mentorship, says Elana Berkowitz, editor of the Campus Progress online magazine.
Their first annual conference was an attempt to gather hundreds of small student groups to kick off a national debate about progressive agenda.
In a day-long, free conference, students heard from Democratic moderates like President Bill Clinton and the first female White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers. There were also more-progressive writers and organizers, such as author Thomas Frank, Katrina vanden Heuvel of the Nation and Stephanie Nyombayire -- a young activist from Rwanda working to bring more visibility to the ongoing atrocities in Darfur, Sudan. Morning panels attempted to define progressive values while afternoon workshops focused on strategic training shared by veteran organizers.
A young woman in her early twenties in a flamboyant dress and pink high heels confidently introduces herself to everyone at the table. She is an intern from Americans for Peace Now. Her head shook violently as she laid out her carefully crafted talking points with a confident, at times deafening voice. I put a finger on my ear to hear my soft-spoken neighbor. Rob Cobbs is a full-time student at Amherst College and a board chair for Massachussets Student PIRG (Public Interest Research Group). He spends more than 30 hours a week on political organizing. Jamia Wilson, a veteran pro-choice activist with maturity well beyond her 24 years, has thoughtful insight on any topic that comes up. This group of students is every college professor's dream -- motivated, smart and articulate.
With 4.7 million more 18 to 24 year-old votes cast in 2004 than 2000, these young leaders are also becoming every progressive politician's dream--from Democrats to Greens.
Tom Friedman vs. Naomi Klein?
The week after the conference, Campus Progress heard a few loud boo's on its blog inspired by Sam Graham-Felsen's article in the Nation. Critiquing the conference for its lack of more radical viewpoints from the progressive circles, he pointed out that no one challenged President Bill Clinton on the war in Iraq or his welfare policies.
Most Campus Progress bloggers debated the merits of a national conference that brings together more centrist students, who typically vote for the Democrats, and more radical participants, who vote for the Greens or even start their own parties. Do they have enough in common, or is this a waste of time, a project doomed to failure once they get down to policy?
Activist Jamia Wilson thinks the conference was a good idea and was impressed by the diversity of students, but she doesn't see much future in compromising with the more though I truly appreciate Campus Progress, there is definitely this lean toward moderate, centrist propaganda. The Republican Party is winning and they never appeased us, ever," she argued. For Wilson, the issues discussed were too safe -- poverty, social security, sex education -- compared to tougher turf like gay rights, a woman's right to choose, or affirmative action.
Gilowen Jenkins, 21, a senior at the University of Massachusetts, recently changed his more radical stance and moved to the center for strategic purposes. "I feel that to get some positive progressive change we need to get the seats of power back. It's okay to dream -- we need visionaries -- but you have to be realistic about the nature of power in this country and how to get it," he explained.
Berkowitz, editor of Campus Progress, views these disagreements as an asset of the progressive movement, "At the core, Campus Progress students share a number of values -- a commitment to economic opportunity and justice, maintaining civil liberties and reproductive freedoms, pursuing a thoughtful, effective and humane foreign policy." She views finding common ground as key to effective progressive activism. "Students who don't always see eye to eye on every political issue will have to work together to create a movement and to make change on their campuses and in their communities."
Don't Just Organize, Mobilize
Most students spoke with conviction and clarity about their values and goals. There were savvy strategists, organizers, and promoters. But as with the rest of progressive community, student organizers often fail to mobilize larger groups of people beyond their immediate activist circles.
This is where Campus Progress comes in. The group helps some of the most effective progressive student activistsgo beyond short-term mobilization on one issue -- voting once a year, getting their schools to divest from Wal-Mart, or stopping a polluting plant -- to becoming long-term, strategic organizers who stay in touch with non-activists in their communities on a day-to-day basis.
Through campus publications, these organizers can connect big political issues -- like global warming -- to the personal lives of people who are working too many jobs, taking too many classes or watching too much TV. The success of long-term organizing that can shape national agenda requires engagement of our less politically-active neighbors.
John Wilson of the Independent Press Association, which that also supports college publications, comments, "If you look at any category of activism -- the number of student organizations, the number of campus protests and events, the number of students actively organizing -- progressives far outnumber conservatives. But the current model of progressive activism on campuses is a huge number of disparate organizations focusing on their own issues."
Campus Progress can be that missing tool for all progressive students -- radical or centrist -- to effectively communicate with their base, build broader coalitions and win bigger battles. David Halperin, director of Campus Progress adds, "Trying to force conformity is doomed to failure. But we can get smarter about presenting our case and figuring out when it's best to come together."
For one day, for the first time in 30 years of progressive organizing, there were students from Ivy League schools and community colleges, students from Tennessee and Florida -- all seeing each other as part of a cohesive whole. Public service seemed like a hip thing to do. And most participants were challenged to focus on what the progressive movement agrees on and stands for, rather than what it is that divides the various factions. For a movement that prides itself for its inclusion and diversity, I say it's a good thing.