The kid vote

Posted at 8:45 AM on June 20, 2006 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

I thought it was pretty politically smart when Rep. Karen Klinzing, R-Woodbury, sent official letters to all of the graduates of Woodbury High School earlier this month with a message of congratulations. Oh, and threw in a voter registration card. OK, so most of them probably have it in a big pile of junk on their floor next to the newly-arrived Selective Service card, torn-envelopes with the money from Auntie Sue removed (don't forget to write those thank-you notes, kiddies), and the dirty laundry, which, for the record, has probably been there since Mom told them to pick up their room back in freshman year.

It's not like her opponent, Marsha Swails, didn't have an "in" with the kids, though, since she's one of their teachers, and was picked as one of the few of the faculty to sit on the stage during their commencement.

Klinzing's reminder that she's in the game too -- officially, of course -- was the result of the power of incumbency, to be sure, but a good indication that no one is ceding the youth vote to one party.

And with more media targeting kids, more options are available to the politicians who want to reach them. In Maryland, for example, candidate profiles are showing up on Facebook.com according to the Washington Post.

It's being used in the governor's race.

"I got on Facebook around the time the 2004 elections were going on, and it was huge as far as students mobilizing and getting the word out," said Jahantab Siddiqui, 20, a University of Maryland student who works for the O'Malley campaign and was responsible for creating the Baltimore mayor's profile.

So if you don't find a date, maybe you'll find a hero.

Comments (1)

A few years back I interened for a long time MN HOR member. We sent out letters like that to all the graduates in our district. I thought it was common practice. Does anyone know the answer?

Posted by james | June 20, 2006 4:45 PM

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