As Florida goes, so goes the nation. At least that has been the case with the last 3 Presidential elections. But what is the dynamic at play in Florida when it comes to voting in 2008?
Here’s what the Dallas Morning News has to say:
Florida, with its critical cache of 27 electoral votes, could come down to whether the reliable GOP seniors will be offset by the turbo-charged but flighty habits of youth.
This year Democrats have mounted a half-million-voter edge in registrations, with much of the boost coming from campus drives. For the first time in Florida, voters 34 and younger outnumber those 65 and older.
But traditionally, the young don’t vote and the seniors do.
So, what does Camp Obama do to break with tradition and nullify the senior vote? It thinks outside the box, and borrows a line from countries with strong democratic cultures such as Iraq (under Saddam Barack Hussein Obama), Syria, China, Libya, North Korea and even Cuba where an overwhelming majority of the electorate votes. Take a look at the opening paragraph of this 2003 report from the BBC on Cuba’s election:
Cuba’s Communist Party has declared a victory for socialism after announcing that more than 97% of voters had taken part in the country’s one-party general election.
Of course 97% of the electorate took part, that is what happens when the machinery of state is used in Astroturfing an election. Kind of how China astroturfed spectors for the Olympics.
So to significantly increase voter turn-out (remember Bush won Florida by less than 1,000 votes), Camp Obama decides to use its’ cronies in the School Board to set up a program to bus Broward County students over the age of 18 to the polls during school hours, a repeat of a similar performance in 2004:
Broward County School District estimates it has transported several hundred students, who have turned 18 and already registered, to early voting sites to cast their ballots. Broward has more than 70,000 high school students at 32 high schools.
Students may miss some class time and some teachers even offer extra credit for the outing, which can be part of a class such as social studies or just a separate activity.
“It’s part of being an American citizen and this is something that we teach in school, the importance of voting,” said school district spokesman Keith Bromery, who likened the program to a field trip.
About 45 students from Blanche Ely High School stood in line for over an hour earlier this week, eating Cheetos, joking and reading over sample ballots outside a library in Pompano Beach.
“Teachers give extra credit for registering to vote and for voting. They’re really trying to get us out there,” said Tara Gocul, a senior at Blanche Ely High School who turned 18 last month.
Gocul says she would have voted anyway, though it’s more convenient to do it during school hours.
Like most of her peers, Gocul is supporting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. A recent AP-Yahoo News Poll conducted earlier this month shows nearly 2-to-1 support for Obama over Republican John McCain among 18- to 29-year-olds nationally. Broward is also a heavily Democratic county.
“I wouldn’t have voted if there wasn’t any (candidates) that I didn’t care about,” she said.
Next to her in line, 18-year-old Curt Dujon said, “All that I thought about was Obama, Obama, Barack Obama.“
Now this might seem innocent but it isn’t.
Unlike in Cuba, Libya, North Korea or Syria, in America we don’t take able-bodied and mentally competent people to the polls on not only the County, but State and Federal taxpayer’s dime.
If these young adults want to vote, they could and should do so on their own time. Saying they were not told how to vote is bullcrap, as it does not take much to figure out how a majority of them would be casting their votes. Hmmm is there anyone who does NOT know what candidate the youth vote is aligned behind? Or the African-Amerian vote for that matter? I don’t know, but since a majority are African-Americans, and all are definity youth, something tells me Barack Obama has that vote firmly in his column. Of course if this is the demographic Gallup is polling, they might as well give Obama a 20 point lead…
Imagine the uproar that would have ensued if a similar program was instituted in a predominantly GOP county in say Ohio, Pennsylvania or even Florida?
Posted by PUMA Pundit
