by Chris Nowinski
September 9, 2005
Harvard to the Rescue (Again)
Have you ever wondered what happens to campaign experts when there is no campaign to be had? I had always assumed they just crawled back into the holes they crawled out of, hibernating like bears… or possibly Morlocks. Just kidding. Since I am a self-appointed campaign expert, I could never allow myself to say such horrible things about my peeps.
I was recently wandering the halls of hallowed Harvard University, like I do every Wednesday, and I stumbled upon one of the most fascinating discussions on youth participation in politics to ever reach human ears.
The Harvard Institute of Politics was holding the inaugural conference called Campaign for President: Young Voters, Lessons Learned, their first-ever attempt to pull together the key players that mobilized 18-30 year-olds to turn out to polls in the greatest numbers in our lifetime. The participants ran the gamut of the heavy-hitters in this field, and their division led to sparks usually reserved for the wrestling ring.
The first panel consisted of academics and experts from such organizations as Pew Charitable Trust and the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. They gave us Powerpoint charts, graphs, tables and more Powerpoint charts than any wrestler with head injuries should ever be forced to see.
The next two panels were divided into the non-partisan and partisan crews. Interestingly, there was some heat between these groups. The non-partisans - representatives from groups like MTV, Rock the Vote, Citizen Change, and a certain director of Smackdown Your Vote! with the ring name of Gary Davis - share the same goal: do what they can do to help get more young people engaged in the political process, regardless of party affiliation.
The partisans, people from the Bush Cheney Campaign, the Kerry/Edwards campaign, Young Democrats, College Republicans, etc., have a different goal in mind each election: Vote, but only if you are going to vote for our candidate.
The source of the bitterness between certain partisan and non-partisan groups stemmed from one very complex question: when does a non-partisan group “educating” voters become “advocating” policies, crossing the line into perceived partisanship? If a group supports a specific policy, like increasing Pell grants, and only one candidate supports that policy, is the group attempting to persuade a young voter to support that candidate?
The answer, I learned, is “yes” – according to the group that didn’t get supported. And after the election, when they are put in one room together, they air their grievances.
There is nothing quite like arguments at academic conferences. You should have seen the Bush/Cheney crew and the Rock the Voters go at it. I don’t know if any of you remember all the specifics of the campaign, but a certain question of the odds of a draft made headlines for a while, and the Rock the Vote crew talked a lot about it, to the dismay of the Bush/Cheney team. It led to a one-upping that did wonders to grind the productivity of the conference to a screeching halt, and frankly didn’t make me want to buy the Pay-Per-View. As a professional trash-talker myself, it made me long for the days of a Cena-JBL verbal joust (or even Steiner-Nowinski).
I’ll let you know if they ever decide to go with a Steel Cage Match.
But aside from the brawling, what we actually learned in the conference was that all non-partisan and partisan groups have their work cut out for them. The Powerpointers showed us that most young people felt very satisfied that they had access to the information that allowed them to register to vote, and then to actually vote.
However, the biggest complaint from 18-30 year olds was that they didn’t feel they have access to enough information, and good information, on the issues to feel truly informed.
Which is why the Smackdown Your Vote! coalition is so proud to issue the 2005-2006 Voter Issues Paper.
The first ever 18-30 Voter Issues Paper was a huge success. We provided a forum to let the candidates speak for themselves, unvetted, uncensored by the media who reduce such things to sound bites and two line quote, because I guess they think we can’t take in anything unless it’s that bit-size. We envision that this will be a piece of the puzzle that will make young people satisfied they have access to good information that will make them feel they can make informed decisions.
Every organization that contributed to the great increased turnout in 2004 is already back to work to make sure that our success won’t be a fluke. Do your part as well – stay in the game.
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