From The Seattle Times
By Froma Harrop

They like Rudy and Barack. They worry most about Iraq, and over half think the country’s on the wrong track. They are liberal, but not always.

We speak of 18- to 24-year-olds, a group that’s worn many labels. Some call them “Generation Y” because they’re younger than Generation X. They’ve been named “Generation 9/11″ for obvious reasons. My favorite tag is “Millennials,” because of its historic sweep. The last Millennial Generation lived in the year 1000, when the Vikings were ravaging the British Isles.

A big political question about this group is: How will they vote? The bigger one is: Will they vote? It’s hard to gauge these folks because so many rely on cellphones, which may not be used for polling. On the other hand, they’re easy to reach on the Internet.

Democrats have long pursued the so-called youth vote. Their perennial hope has been that young people, who are traditionally liberal, would march to the polls in greater numbers. But they usually wake up the first Wednesday in November realizing that their Great White Whale had overslept once again.

When the voting age was dropped to 18 in 1972, all hailed a new era for youthful involvement in our democracy. The reality is that over the last 35 years, the youngest group’s participation in elections has steadily dropped.

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