Nice to see that since the glory days of anti-Vietnam protests, marching for civil rights and demanding sexual equality, students in the US are held in as low esteem as their UK counterparts these days. As CNN.com says today, if they can drag themselves away from computer games, hitting that bong one more time or generally lounging around not doing much, their input could be very significant in the Iowa caucus.
Rules state that youngsters from other places attending college in Iowa can still vote in the state and 17-year-olds can cast their ballot as long as they are 18 by election day. However, the problems are not so much legal as existential for most of today's disaffected youth.
"They're not a particularly reliable voting bloc and haven't been in the past. That doesn't mean you can't get them out, but it's a lot of work," said Drake University political science professor Arthur Sanders.
The influential Des Moines Register has seen people writing in with support for this idea and makes the salient point that without students volunteering, cavassing and generally getting involved, the caucus itself would barely work. But how much sway they may have over their more apathetic friends on Januay 3 remains to be seen.
