Tag Archive: Yale on the Trail: The Youth Vote

  1. Anticipation builds as first caucus approaches

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    ANKENY, Iowa, 2:16 a.m. – After our whirlwhind tour of the state of Iowa, seeing three candidates, getting lost in Des Moines for a few hours and blasting Bright College Years on the Iowa highway, we have finally settled for the night at a friend’s house outside of Iowa. We are staying with Brendan Fitzpatrick ’10, who lives in a suburb of Des Moines.

    Talking to Brendan who, with his parents, will be participating in the Democratic caucus tomorrow, we realize just how exciting the caucus is for residents of Iowa, especially for the many that will be caucusing for the first time. So we will join Brenden in his precinct, observe and report back tomorrow.

    Many of Brendan’s friends — college students — will also caucus tomorrow. But just how will youth vote, in general, play a role in the upcoming election? And more pressingly, how will the youth in Iowa, caucusing for the first time, help choose the next president of the United States?

    For now, we can only wait and see.

    -Ryan Galisewski

  2. After poll, Gaddis Smith recalls the Republican Yale of 1936

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    OLYMPIA, Wash., 9:45 p.m. — While constant polling may drive newspaper circulation, for Yale historian and professor emeritus Gaddis Smith, the horse race is, well, a complete bore.

    My calling him over winter break to comment on the paper’s recent presidential poll therefore only added to his unwanted numerical inundation that is increasing on the eve of the Iowa caucuses.

    Still, Smith could not help but note Yale’s dramatic political transformation over the past century.

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  3. With early primary, a decline in the student vote?

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    NEW HAVEN, Conn., 5:15 PM — Around this time of winter every four years, the tens of thousands of college students spread around the state of New Hampshire tend to get an unmistakable burst of attention from presidential campaigns trolling for votes. But this year, the campuses are dark. Next week, students, in large part, will still be enjoying their Christmas vacations.

    Usually, with New Hampshire residents selecting a nominee in late January, the state’s college campuses are back in session for the spring semester. But because of this year’s early primary date, this year will be different. Come Tuesday, only Dartmouth College will be up and running.

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  4. UNH students choose Obama

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    NEW HAVEN, Conn., 4:30 PM — The New Hampshire primary is expected to be a close contest next week, but if students at the University of New Hampshire were the only ones voting, it might not be very close at all. Despite an eight-candidate field, Senator Barack Obama did more than just win a plurality of votes at UNH. He won more votes than the other seven candidates put together.

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  5. The Coffee Caucus

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    The Coffee Caucus at Zanzibar’s Coffee AdventureDES MOINES, Iowa, 5:22 PM – Would you like some creamer with that Richardson? How about a little sugar in your Huckabee? You say you want a half-caff skim peppermint Hillary latte?

    Such is the scene at Zanzibar’s Coffee Adventure in Des Moines, on Ingersall Avenue, where the owners have set up a “Coffee Caucus” to gauge customers’ political leanings tomorrow. Customers asking for a cup of coffee will be asked to pick from any of fourteen pots of coffee labeled “Obama,” “Dodd,” “Romney,” (etc.) representing each of the presidential candidates. In 2004, the system accurately predicted the outcome of the Democratic primary.

    Of course, there wasn’t any Republican primary back then, so there was just one big pot of coffee for George W. Bush. It was decaf.

    Check back tomorrow for “exit polling” from Zanzibar’s.

    -Zack Abrahamson

  6. College Republicans president predicts youth vote will be decisive

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    WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, 9:56 a.m. — “These teams in the WAC conference, you get one team like Boise beating Utah and all of a sudden they’re like, ‘Let us play for a national championship.’ Then you put a team like Hawaii up against Georgia, you say, ‘Here you go, try playing a BCS against an SEC team and watch what happens.’”

    Believe it or not, we’re talking politics with University of Iowa College Republicans President Greg Baker. Greg is a junior at the U — a polisci/history double major and one of the nicest guys we’ve met on the campaign trail. It doesn’t take much to change gears from Mitt Romney’s suburban support into a a full-fledged debate about the merits of Iowa football.

    As much as he loves football, the game of politics is really Baker’s first love. He’s lived in Earlham (pronounced earl-um), Iowa, his whole life, but he’ll go back to Iowa City on Thursday night to make his voice heard in his first-ever Republican caucus.

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  7. Students for Rudy co-chair touts ’50-state’ strategy

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    Jimmy CentersIOWA CITY, Iowa, 1:17 p.m. — “This is how we keep the volunteers in line,” Students for Rudy Giuliani National Co-Chair Jimmy Centers jokes as he fires a foam disk across the room. “Don’t take pictures of this.”

    Centers heads up one of a small handful of Republican presidential campaign offices east of Des Moines in the state of Iowa. He’s got a pile of walk lists on his desk that is six inches high, two long rows of identical cell phones for volunteers to use on the job and a bucket of foam shooters reminiscent of something you might pull out of a McDonald’s happy meal.

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  8. Edwards counting on rural counties in countdown to caucuses

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    Mike JuntunenIOWA CITY, Iowa, 11:33 a.m. — Mike Juntunen didn’t go home for Christmas. No, the 26-year-old University of Iowa freshman was busy spreading his own version of holiday cheer — the message of former North Carolina Senator John Edwards.

    Juntunen is co-president of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes for John Edwards, which is responsible in part for marshaling Edwards’ student forces in the Iowa City/Johnson County area and doing outreach to surrounding rural counties. He’s optimistic about the former senator’s chances on Thursday night.

    “A straight-up tie really means John Edwards wins Iowa by three or four points because that’s the proportion of the second-place votes we’re going to win,” he predicts.

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