I took a cab to head over to the Kids Voting USA mayoral debate in St. Paul, Minn, and since my taxi driver was a typical friendly St. Paulian, he asked me what I was doing in town. When I told him, he nearly lost it. “Oh, man, you know about Randy Kelly, right? He was elected as a Democrat, and then in last year’s election, he supported Bush. A lot of people are pissed!” The plot thickens. “Yeah, but he’s still running as a Democrat, and so is the other guy, Chris Coleman. Coleman crushed Kelly in the primary, and can you believe this, Kelly said, ‘That doesn’t matter, Republicans don’t vote in the Democratic primary.’”

Welcome to one of the strangest Mayoral elections in the country. This year is what some people refer to as an “off year” in electoral politics, with no Presidential or Congressional elections. But you wouldn’t know it’s a political “off year” in St. Paul. I sat with 165 high school students who had all completed a rigorous curriculum in order to have the honor of watching the Mayoral debate live and maybe even ask a question. I was asked to open and close the debate.

All wasn’t well in the great white north, however. I was warned when I walked into the building that the school board was concerned I would “rile up” the students (is that a bad thing?). I was immediately approached by a 50-something social studies teacher who told me, “I hope you understand that these students are taking this very seriously, and it would be a shame if they got a different message today.” Was I more offended than at any point during my affiliation with Smackdown Your Vote? Sure. But what I was most upset about was that I assumed I could no longer do my mascot routine. See, Kids Voting USA – one of the members of the Smackdown Your Vote! network -- has an eagle mascot named “General Election.” I thought it would be great to do the old Three Stooges routine at the opening, acting out the rules of the debate with, “No eye gouging, no hair pulling, no closed fists…” I tell you, it would have killed. But I’ll save it for another time.

But the teacher’s heartfelt chastising does reveal a bit how the older generations are out of touch with younger voters and what they want. Everyone even a bit familiar with youth voting knows that Smackdown Your Vote! hasn’t caused any riots yet, and that Chris Nowinski was even serious in the ring. When I did finally speak, I told the students how lucky they were to be getting their own debate for their own issues. Let’s face it- most of them were neither voters nor financial donors, so the candidates didn’t have much to gain. But I guess if you turn down “the Kids” you have a lot to lose from an image standpoint. The students came ready with some really terrific questions, and they confirmed the old adage, “All politics is local politics.” Our 18-30 VIP is distributed nationally, and naturally has to focus on national issues, so when I usually discuss health care, national security, and the economy with students, I sometimes forget the kinds of local issues facing a major city like St. Paul.

This debate focused on a few major areas – public school funding (naturally), crime and public safety, race, affordable housing, and the environment. The city of St. Paul is responsible for a large part of the public school budget, and the candidates discussed whether or not to raise taxes to increase funding. St. Paul is responsible for determining how many police are on the street. Kelly wants to take the number of police from 578 to 678 in four years – Coleman would rather spend the money on early intervention and prevention. Not surprisingly, the police union supports Kelly. St. Paul is responsible for its own greenhouse gas emissions. Coleman pointed out that many mayors of large cities have joined a coalition to adopt the Kyoto protocol for their municipalities, and Kelly wasn’t one of them.

It was refreshing to see that the candidates took the students’ questions very seriously, and I walked away with a pretty clear understanding of where they differed on policy, despite the fact that they are both affiliated with the same party. The moderator from our friends at the League of Women Voters – another Smackdown Your Vote! partner -- kept the debate moving and the candidates under a tight leash.

In fact, this debate was such a success that I’m going to recommend that Smackdown Your Vote!, the League, and Kids Voting USA take this forum national. How great would it be to have these debates in every state?! No candidate can turn down the Kids, and combined with the legitimacy of the League and the attitude of the WWE, we create a blueprint that will keep democracy alive and well in this great nation. And if we can’t do something live in each community, then why not something virtual, sort of like the informal virtual “debate: we did with President Bush, Sen. Kerry and Ralph Nader, when we were able to compare their written responses to the 2004 edition of the 18-30 VIP.

I’ll call Vince and get the ball rolling.

Return to commentaries.