Young voters in danger of flaking out should watch my music video, "Fourth of November (Don't Flake Out)": http://vermontdailybriefing.com/?p=1107. Enjoy!

for that same old myth that this candidate or the other atracts the youth vote and that will make the difference? Bull shit. It never has.

Young people don't vote. Period. Let me say that again: Young people don't vote. They don't vote. And young people don't vote. Did you get that? Young people dont' vote. THeir issues tend to revolve around affording that next double latte choco mocca with a pacifier on top. Or where they can plug in free of charge blog themselves into celebrity status on CNN with every other word being "me...I...me...I...me...."

And if you look at the age bracket that does vote consistently, Obama doesn't do quite as well with them, especially in that critical senior citizen range. And hey, it's not because of race either. The hard core voters have heard all the mantras about and for "change." They are not consumed with a culture of youth and "turning pages." What they want are the facts, m'am, just the facts. Obama doesn't have the facts. He's got platitudes.

Young people are not going to swing this vote to Obama just like didn't swing it to Gore or Kerry. They won't be swinging anything until they are about 35 to 40 years old. I vaguely recall a book written about the 1060's that had it's main theme as "age is not a class."

The college campuses are being heavily canvassed by Obama and I can say for certain that they are volunteering in droves here, so the votes will come.

I've tried to find out how to vote early in MA, and it seems like they don't allow it. So I'll be there on Tuesday.

I don't think Obama has lost the kid at all as some might suggest. i think the issue is that we are kids (i'm 29 so i guess i still qualify) and we are still kinda clinging to the jon mayer song "waiting on the world to change". it seems that A LOT of my peers are cynical political non-activists. We might even like Obama and the illuminati agenda he pushed forward but i think most of us aren't really sure he can or will do what he says even if we do elect him. We'll just wait for things to change and then get involved. Or grow up a little, hit the 35 year old mark, have a kid or 2 and then get involved. It's will happen sooner or later, we'll see.

My unscientific sample of voters age 18-21 says that they want the experience of going in the voting booth on election day for their first time voting for president. So, I'm not surprised that they're not heavily represented in early voting.

"Younger Generation Totally Meant to Vote"

Let's not give them such easy material this year...

As a college professor, I can guarantee that most of the young voters will get to the polls at the last possible minute.

Absolutely correct. Aside from all the emotional crap about the "spirit of the day" or the "mass civic ritual" or whatever, why would anyone want to face long lines and potential problems of all sorts on Election Day itself if they don't have to? I voted early and was happy to do so. Now I can spend Election Day with Obama GOTV efforts and then drink myself silly while watching the returns in the evening. But I must be in a minority--I know plenty of people who COULD vote early or absentee, but who can't muster up the will to do so, and so will end up trudging to the polls next Tuesday, waiting a long time and dealing with bullshit, and then bitching about it afterwards. DUH.

Hey, that's not a bad thing to be! Lucky you!

Yeah, I'm like a younger, female Aaron Sorkin.

is the surest way to have your vote not count. You're more likely to be subject to a challenge; to face long lines and be forced to walk away; to be turned away because the machines are down or the time limit is reached; to end up voting at 10 pm after waiting for hours; to find there is a problem with your registration and no time to fix it. And if your car breaks down or something happens at work or whatever, there is no time for a back-up plan.

In short, if you want the best opportunity to have your vote not count, then absolutely blow it off until next Tuesday.

Ceremony? Tradition? Bull$#!t. Go vote.

TOO funny! My first reaction was OMG, somebody has to tell this person what DAY to vote!!! Then I kept reading, grin getting bigger and bigger right up till the last sentence, when you *punched* it. Thanks for the laugh :)

... but they'll show up fashionably on-time, on election day.

i'm in the 18-30 demographic, and i plan to proudly, gladly, and patiently wait in line on tuesday. this is history, and i think the people in my generation recognize this and want to be a part of it in-person, on election day, among their citizens.

Yes it's a joke. A little Election Day in-joke for you. Like a sweet West Wing flavored confectionary treat.

/Early voted a week ago

//In both columns!

the constant drip of new, contradictory data can make you really, really insane. Because let's face it, the only thing worse than no hope is false hope.

But here's the conclusion I've come to. Fact is, the media and the pundits HAVE to turn this into a close race, or they have nothing to talk about. I've seen polls from McCain-rabid TV stations (cough FOX cough) that have Obama with only 160 some electoral votes. Then I look at pollster.com or fivethirtyeight.com and go, WTF?

So you're right. We're being played. So all we can do is what we can do.

Volunteer. Make phone calls. Donate what you can.

And in the end, grab a bottle, hunker down, and pray for daylight.