Category: Kevin Joy
The Race for the Youth Vote
by Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON – Inside a fashionable nightclub one Monday night in October, Christian Price sipped Cristal champagne and mingled among 4,500 couture-clad twentysomethings packing the smoky, four-story dance hall on Washington’s Northeast side. But she wasn’t there to party, even though the open bar and thumping hip-hop music suggested otherwise.
This wasn’t just a casual evening out. Attendees paid $50 each to see former President Bill Clinton, the headliner at a bash intended to raise money for the Democratic National Committee and, perhaps more important, raise political participation among young people.
Around 11:30, over the booming strains of 50 Cent’s ubiquitous rap jingle “In Da Club,” Clinton took the stage to deafening applause and chants of “Bill! Bill! Bill!”
He spoke for only five minutes, but that didn’t matter. The event raised $250,000-90 percent of it from first-time political donors.
“Every time I see him I get star-struck,” Price, 21, a Capitol Hill intern, said of Clinton. “If the DNC did more events like this, they’d make a ton of money and reach more people.”
Reaching young people and spurring them to vote is a constant and growing challenge for politicians and political parties. The nine Democrats vying for their party’s presidential nomination are trying to break out of the pack in part by finding unique ways to connect to a generation distrustful of politics and reared on scandal.
With such demographer-coined titles as Generation Y, the New Millenials and the Nintendo Generation, young people today grew up on tabloid journalism, cable TV and, most recently, the Internet. They were bombarded with images of O.J. Simpson and Monica Lewinsky. They are media savvy and often skeptical. They watch reality television.
The trouble is, they avoid Election Day more than any other age group.
“The emerging voter right now already grew up in a world established by Watergate,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for Popular Television at Syracuse University. “In an age of fragmented popular culture, you’ve got a cynical, wise-guy population of young people.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, voter turnout among 18- to 24-year-olds dipped from 50 percent in 1972-the first time 18-year-olds could vote in a presidential race-to 32 percent in 1996 and again in 2000.
That’s 8.6 million young people who voted in the last presidential election. By contrast, more than 40 million people cast votes for their favorites in the last two seasons of “American Idol,” a televised pop-star competition.
Steve Christoforou, 21, a senior in history at Yale and president of the university’s debate society, said he thinks college students have difficulty seeing past the “campus lens” and into the distant future when deciding whether to vote.
“We’re still young, and the consequences aren’t as visible,” he said. Candidates’ positions on Medicare, Social Security or tax reform won’t usually inspire 18-year-olds to vote, though they will bring out senior citizens-already the most dominant group at the polls, Christoforou said. “Candidates are not as deeply relevant in the same way to some young people like they might be for older generations.
” Many political experts view young people as politically unattainable. Former Clinton political adviser Paul Begala, now co-host of CNN’s “Crossfire,” deemed them “hopelessly ill-informed.”
Nevertheless, voting advocacy groups, political strategists and an odd smattering of celebrities have renewed efforts this year to attract a generation they see as an untapped resource, one that could produce crucial swing votes in a tight election.
Campaigns to entice young voters to the polls have been diverse, even a bit unorthodox. They include the non-partisan Smack Down Your Vote, supported by World Wrestling Entertainment and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (and more recently, the League of Women Voters), which registers voters at rallies featuring popular rappers, wrestling stars and religious leaders.
Two nonpartisan groups, Newspapers in Education and the National Association of Secretaries of State, have endorsed the short, snarky film “Let’s Go Voting,” starring actors Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughan, which tells high schoolers that voting is, like, really cool. The hyperactive 20-minute movie is the product of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the controversial animated series “South Park.”
The $4 million New Voters Project is a nationwide drive to register 260,000 young people in the next year and to increase voter turnout among 18- to 24-year-olds by 5 percent in 2004.
Declare Yourself, a $9 million voting drive founded by 81-year-old television producer and Connecticut native Norman Lear, includes an 18-college tour featuring an original copy of the Declaration of Independence. The only New England stop is Keene State College in New Hampshire on Jan. 26, the day before that state’s primary.
Smack Down Your Vote and Declare Yourself aspire to get a total of 2 million more young adults to vote in the 2004 election. But will the endorsement of rap artist LL Cool J or the Spandex-wearing, body-slamming Superstar Maven of World Wrestling Entertainment attract new voters?
Curtis Gans, director of the nonpartisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate, said glitzy, celebrity-driven campaigns are not often effective, since they rarely address anything other than the action of voting itself.
“Youths don’t vote because a wrestler or rock star asked them to,” Gans said. “They do vote because of idealism, a sense of greater national issues, something larger than themselves-really getting engaged through grassroots politics.”
A study released in October by the Harvard University Institute of Politics, which surveyed 18- to 24-year-olds on campuses across the nation, showed political interest is on the upswing. Of the 1,202 students who responded, 86 percent said they would “probably” or “definitely” vote in 2004. That would be a 169 percent increase from four years ago and, experts say, unlikely to occur.
On the other hand, a Harvard poll conducted in April 2000 found that 51 percent of students who participated believed political involvement rarely produced tangible results. A University of California-Los Angeles survey last fall found that less than one-third of incoming college freshmen view following politics as “important.”
“I don’t know what kind of sampling they’re taking,” said Derek Garcia, 22, a senior at Wesleyan University. “Most of that criticism has been generated mostly to cast American students as being apathetic to political issues. Colleges are centers of social issues and open-mindedness.”
Wesleyan, however, was rated the nation’s most politically active campus by Mother Jones magazine. More than 750 of the school’s 2,700 undergraduates traveled to New York last February to try to prevent the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Campus sidewalks are constantly etched in activist rhetoric with colored chalk. The college is, as 21-year-old Wesleyan junior Arusha Gordon called it, “kind of a bubble.”
But student sentiment is different on other campuses.
“This is a very apathetic campus, not very well-versed in politics at all,” said John Jevitts, 20, a junior at the University of Connecticut. “In no way could most people here name all nine [Democratic presidential] candidates.”
Since only about one-quarter of recent high-school graduates are enrolled in college, reaching the other 75 percent is difficult, said Dorothy James, a government professor at Connecticut College.
“You have a body of people who aren’t particularly interested in politics to begin with,” James said. “For these campaigns to make some real difference, they have to deal with the root cause of this problem. I’m not sure doing jazzy things is going to make a big difference.”
One of the most widely publicized efforts, last month’s Rock the Vote town-hall style debate-broadcast live on CNN from Boston’s Fanueil Hall-allowed viewers to question Democratic presidential candidates using e-mails, wireless text messaging and telephones. Technologically speaking, it was hip.
The questions ranged from marijuana use to racism to whether the candidates used Mac or PC computers (a play on the “boxers or briefs” inquiry Clinton fielded in a 1992 Rock the Vote event). The candidates tried to exude coolness-with only some degree of success.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and retired Gen. Wesley Clark, each wearing all-black ensembles with turtlenecks, looked slightly uncomfortable in their urbane threads.
It’s not window dressing-or issues, for that matter-but personal character that impresses young voters the most, said Ryan Jones, a UConn senior.
“What a lot of young people are looking for is strong leadership and personal dynamic,” said Jones, 21. “They’re more inclined to vote on the candidate, not just a specific issue.”
Politicians must tread carefully when courting young voters, according to Jonathan Zaff, president of 18to35, which works to involve young people in policymaking.
“This is an extremely savvy generation, and they’re not a group that likes to be marketed to,” Zaff said. “But the presidential candidates aren’t mind readers either. It’s important that young adults get involved and make sure their voices are heard.”
One popular method of small-scale mobilization has been through local gatherings called “meetups”-community get-togethers staged in coffeehouses, bars and homes to garner support for a candidate. On meetup.com, the Web site that organizes the events, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s campaign boasts 151,200 registered members. No other candidate has even one-third that number.
U.S. Representative Bob Ney, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Administration Committee, recently announced the formation of a bipartisan Congressional Youth Civic Caucus to look at issues affecting young people and urge politicians to initiate more voter outreach programs.
The Bush-Cheney campaign is starting its youth outreach eight months earlier than in the last election, according to spokesman Kevin Madden. It’s building a national student support group and organizing student committees. The campaign also is trying to reach out to a certain type of younger voter in another way: it has created a new fundraiser category called “Mavericks” for donors under 40 who raise $50,000 each.
With the help of Internet campaigning-encompassing e-mail “listservs” to send event updates, “blogs” that track day-to-day happenings and user-friendly Web sites-tech-savvy youth can feel more closely connected with a candidate, said Kerry Szeps, co-president the of the Connecticut Young Democrats. She credits Dean for fueling the Web-based phenomenon, which has garnered attention and copycat efforts from nearly every candidate.
While the Democratic presidential nominees are making every attempt to appeal to youth-the Rev. Al Sharpton recently hosted “Saturday Night Live” and Clark talks of his penchant for rap duo Outkast (“I can shake it like a Polaroid picture,” he said after a debate, using an obscure reference to one of the group’s hit songs)-they will have a tough time matching the electric connection Clinton made with young people in 1992.
Syracuse’s Thompson said he doubts any of the candidates will have an “Arsenio” moment, referencing Clinton’s wildly popular appearance on “The Arsenio Hall Show,” complete with sunglasses and a saxophone performance.
However, Dean did play Bob Dylan songs on the guitar and harmonica in Iowa last August.
But such attempts also carry risks.
“There’s always the uncomfortable moment when political candidates are in certain venues trying to ‘get down’ with the young folks-not only can that feel forced, but sometimes a little bit pathetic,” Thompson said. “They’ve got to speak with a candor and frankness that acknowledges this generation’s cynicism and skepticism, not to mention the very reason they’re appearing in this venue is to get their vote.”
Smog Provision in Federal Energy Bill Frustrates Lawmakers, Clean-Air Advocates
by Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON - Environmental advocates and many lawmakers are fuming over a little-noticed provision in the $30 billion federal energy bill that they say could result in smoggier skies over Connecticut.
The provision would permit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to extend smog reduction deadlines established under 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. If an area could prove some of its pollution comes from another community or state-for instance, by pollutants traveling downwind-it wouldn't have to clean up its own emissions until the outside polluter did.
The outcome would be a continuous finger-pointing game with no incentive for ecological responsibility, said Christopher Phelps, an advocate for the Connecticut Public Interest Research Group (ConnPIRG), a watchdog organization.
And for Connecticut, a state already faced with high summer ozone levels, a large commuter population and close proximity to New York City, activists say the extended deadlines for air quality standards could produce devastating long-term effects.
"You'll have sides saying, 'It's not our pollution, it's your pollution," Phelps said. "And in the meantime, nobody's cleaning up their air."
The measure was not in the original versions of the energy bill passed by the House and Senate earlier this year, but instead was inserted during negotiations on a final bill last week at the behest of Rep. Joe Barton, R-Tex. The House approved the bill, 246-180, Tuesday, and the measure awaits Senate action this week.
A number of senators on both sides of the aisle have threatened to try to kill the bill, a high priority for President Bush. The administration contends the bill would reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, while opponents argue it would provide too many tax incentives to energy producers and delay efforts to clean up air on a local level.
Angela Ledford, executive director of the Washington-based environmental group Clear the Air, called the provision "appalling" and said it overlooks Connecticut residents' health needs.
Ten percent-or 86,000-of Connecticut children have asthma, compared with 6 percent nationally, ConnPIRG reported. Medical experts say polluted air is a main cause of respiratory problems.
Connecticut has some of the nation's most stringent air quality regulations, and Gov. John G. Rowland signed a bill into law in 2000 cleaning up the state's aging "sooty six" power plants. Nevertheless, the number of days during which Connecticut residents were exposed to unhealthy amounts of smog rose by 177 percent from 2000 to 2002, according to the EPA.
An analysis by Abt Associates, a Cambridge, Mass., consulting firm, concluded that Connecticut residents could face an additional 10,756 asthma attacks, 135 hospitalizations and 15,000 lost school days because of symptoms resulting from increasingly poor air quality stemming directly from the energy bill's extension of clean air deadlines.
Both Rowland, a Republican, and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, have criticized the energy bill, with Rowland calling it "government at its worst."
Blumenthal said the provision was a "backdoor attempt to save polluters in the Midwest and the South from the expense of having to reduce emissions."
Reps. Rob Simmons and Nancy Johnson, both Connecticut Republicans, voted for the bill Tuesday. Simmons said that while he would continue to support a strong Clean Air Act, his vote could be likened to "swallowing a rat"-in other words, he said, "taking the bad with the good."
The "bipartisan energy bill had more than enough good provisions to warrant my support," Simmons said in a statement. "The energy bill passed today by a large majority is not perfect; far from it. But politics is the art of the possible, not the art of the perfect."
Forty-six Democrats joined 200 Republicans to pass the bill in the House. Despite the extended deadlines for smog reduction, energy producers contend the legislation will be environmentally effective.
"Some of the critics have suggested that any extension of a deadline must inherently be bad, when in fact the whole purpose of providing this flexibility is to ensure that this puts an end to finger-pointing and controversy impeding air quality progress," said Dan Riedinger, a spokesman for the Washington-based Edison Electric Institute, which represents companies that generate 70 percent of the nation's electricity.
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn, blasted the energy bill for containing a number of provisions that would shield polluters from liability and for doing little to promote the use of alternative and renewable fuels.
"Republicans are attempting to jam an energy bill through Congress that is better suited to meet the energy needs of the 19th century, not the 21st," Dodd said in a statement.
A number of Senate Democrats and Republicans have threatened to use a filibuster to prevent the bill from coming to a vote this week, but it is unclear whether they can muster enough support to sustain it. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D.-Conn., called the measure "another giveaway to special interests" and said he would support a filibuster
Census Data Show College Grads Leaving Connecticut
By Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON - They're young, single, well-educated-and leaving Connecticut in droves.
More unmarried 25- to 39-year-old college graduates left the state than moved in between 1995 and 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released this week.
Young adults used to leave the Northeast for such established Sunbelt cities as Phoenix and Atlanta. Now, they're swarming to Naples, Fla., Las Vegas and Charlotte, N.C., the census reported. The continuing "brain drain" has Connecticut employers and economic officials worried about losing intellectual talent to areas with warmer climates, an abundance of jobs and lower costs of living.
Single college graduates in their 20s and 30s are more mobile than every other age or social group, the Census Bureau reported. Their departure from New England is second only to their migration from the Midwest.
"Young people want to move to places that are hip, but also have jobs," said Marc Perry, a Census Bureau demographer. "Places with faster population growth have more job growth."
Of the 3.4 million people living in Connecticut in 2000, 84,247 were classified as young, single college graduates. But Connecticut lost 6,315 more young, single, college graduates than it attracted during the second half of the 1990s, the bureau reported. Put another way, their rate of departure during that period was nearly three and a half times the overall out-migration rate of all other Connecticut residents 5 and older.
"It is certainly a concern, especially when the economy is struggling," said John Tirinzonie, an economist with the Connecticut Department of Labor. "You have more people leaving and more people retiring."
He added that nearly half of the state's high school seniors last year chose to attend out-of-state colleges this fall, making it less likely they would return home when they graduate.
But Connecticut students and recent graduates aren't immune to wanderlust either.
A semester in Washington during his junior year inspired Shaun Ferrari, 25, to pursue work in the nation's capital following his graduation from Connecticut College in 2000. He is currently a financial services analyst with the Federal Reserve.
Ferrari, who grew up in Windsor Locks, said he eventually plans to settle in Connecticut.
"I'd rather raise a family there," he said. "The feeling I get in the Northeast-I just can't describe it. I like to see the dramatic change of all four seasons."
On the other hand, Jonathan Kaplan, 34, headed to Texas in the early 1990s after receiving degrees from the University of Connecticut and Springfield College in Massachusetts. He said he was attracted by the low cost of living and job opportunities in the South. He moved to Boston a few years later, but his company ultimately transferred him to Phoenix, his current home.
"Everything is brand new and spotless," Kaplan, a Stamford native, said of Phoenix, where he works for an investment management firm. "You can get a four-bedroom house for $150,000 here. And it's definitely more relaxed than Connecticut."
Unlike Ferrari, Kaplan doesn't plan to return home.
Sunbelt cities continue to compete for the Northeast's young and educated. Beginning in 1999, the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce has run a series of television ads in Boston, Dallas and Chicago, tempting young viewers with technology jobs. The chamber has run a similar campaign on the pages of Wired and Rolling Stone magazines.
Connecticut labor officials said they're working to combat the exodus. Last year, the state targeted young adults with an advertising promotion-part of the "You Belong in Connecticut" campaign-that described the state as a "hot spot" for technology and science jobs. In January, it will sponsor a college career expo in Hartford. "
Obviously everyone else is in competition for skilled labor, and, of course, we would like them to stay here," said Pat O'Neil, a representative of the Connecticut Office for Workforce Competitiveness. "But Connecticut schools produce a highly skilled, well-educated labor force and, in turn, they could seek opportunities elsewhere."
Still, O'Neil remains optimistic, saying that as the economy continues to recover and college enrollment increases, more recent graduates might decide to stay in Connecticut.
"As the baby boom generation retires, we need to fill those jobs," O'Neil said. "We believe Connecticut can remain competitive-the quality of life here is second to none."
McCain-Lieberman Global Warming Bill Rejected by Senate
By Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON - The Senate on Thursday rejected a bill intended to combat global warming by lowering levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
The bill, cosponsored by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D.-Conn., would have capped the amount of greenhouse gases industrial outlets could release. It was defeated by a vote of 55-43, suffering the same fate as the last proposal to fight global warming, which died in 1997.
President Bush opposed the measure, arguing emissions reductions should be voluntary.
Under the latest bill, companies that exceeded the projected annual limit of 10,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas could purchase emissions "credits" from other outlets producing less than the limit -a plan similar in structure to the successful acid rain trading program included in the 1990 Clean Air Act. Any company not meeting the limit would be fined three times the market value for each additional ton of greenhouse gas it emitted.
The bill's ultimate goal was to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 to levels measured in 2000.
On Wednesday, Lieberman described the legislation, which he sponsored with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as "a modest proposition" and blasted President Bush's failure to act against global warming. Senators last considered global warming six years ago, when they voted 95-0 against the more stringent Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty on climate change.
But in a statement following his bill's defeat, Lieberman said congressional attitudes toward environmental issues were steadily improving.
"Today's vote shows that the political climate is changing on climate change," he said. "Global warming is now on the front burner of the national agenda."
Political experts knew the bill's passage would be a long shot. It faced significant opposition from Republican lawmakers and the Bush administration, which prefer voluntary corporate emission reductions over federal enforcement. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency decided in August that carbon dioxide couldn't be regulated as a pollutant.
Regardless, McCain said in a statement he was hopeful that the closeness of the vote would create a greater awareness of the problem of climate change when global warming legislation comes up for a vote in the future.
"We've lost a big battle today, but we'll win over time because climate change is real," McCain said. "You can only win by marshaling public opinion."
State and local governments now are leading the way on climate change. Last week, 12 states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine, filed suit against the EPA's decision not to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. At the same time, 156 mayors-including those representing Bridgeport, Hamden, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury and Windham-signed a statement sent to Bush and a host of government agencies in support of the McCain-Lieberman bill.
"We really hoped to get some visibility," said Susan Ode, the outreach director for the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, the group that organized the mayoral coalition. "It's an issue that has tremendous support among local governments."
While Bush argued that the global warming bill could endanger jobs and spike federal costs, a recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said McCain-Lieberman would cost approximately $20 per household per year.
National energy, transportation and manufacturing sectors were responsible for approximately 85 percent of overall U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2000. The farming industry and households would have been exempt from McCain and Lieberman's reduction requirements.
Rowland Supports First-Responder Funding Changes
By Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON - Gov. John G. Rowland on Tuesday criticized the way the Bush administration has doled out homeland security money and threw his support behind legislation that would funnel more money to parts of the country that are likelier terrorism targets.
Rowland told the House Select Homeland Security Committee that the money for first responders was not reaching states quickly enough, the application process was complicated and the distribution of money was inconsistent among the states. He said he supported a bill that would consolidate a number of grants for first responders-firefighters, police officers and paramedics-and apply new criteria for awarding them.
"We're past the sense of urgency, and now we should be talking about standards," said Rowland, a member of an advisory council to the president on homeland security. "It's time to avoid an entitlement program and make states prove what they need based on logical thoughts."
In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, each state received about $15 million for first responders plus an additional amount based on population. States were required to give at least 80 percent of the money to local governments.
Under a bill introduced this month by Christopher Cox, R-Calif., federal money would be distributed according to a location's risk of attack. In addition, regions, not just individual states, would be eligible to apply for grants.
Rowland said the bill would make it more likely that areas bordering Connecticut, including New York City and Long Island Sound, would receive a greater share of the funds. Some states and rural areas would receive less money, while such high-risk regions as Washington and Los Angeles would get more.
Rowland said the federal government should allocate homeland security grants to state governments, not directly to individual towns or regions. The money then would be distributed as necessary to Connecticut's 169 communities based on need, he said.
"Governors clearly understand the importance of regional cooperation and mutual aid," he said. "Comprehensive plans cannot be created if funding goes to municipalities without the involvement of a state."
To ensure that first responder grants reach the local level, the proposed bill would give states only 45 days to pass the money on to municipalities.
Not all local officials agree that the federal money should go first to the states..
Richard Brown, New London's city engineer, said in an interview the city has received "very little" in first responder grants, but he didn't have a dollar figure. One of the biggest grants, $130,000, went to the New London Fire Department for a decontamination trailer and other equipment. In the event of a chemical attack, it can treat 100 people an hour, said Fire Chief Ron Samul.
New London has the only decontamination trailer in the eastern half of Connecticut and shares it with the entire region, Samul said. He said the city still needs blankets and heated tents for victims of a chemical attack. And most of his employees have not received official preparation for handling a radiological or biological attack, Samul said in an interview.
"I feel pretty confident that we have good training based on our generic emergency plan" used in the event of a blizzard, hurricane or flood, Samul said. "But we're the first ones to be called upon, no matter what happens."
Even though New London lacks a major airport, Brown said, the city should get a significant amount of first-responder money because of its close proximity to the Millstone Power Station, a nuclear power plant, as well as to Interstate 95, the Goldstar Bridge, Amtrak rails and the Electric Boat submarine shipyard.
"We've always known that New London was a high threat area," Brown said. "There's a definite need for more funding and a greater sharing of information among regions. And everyone's safety rests on [first responders'] ability to do their job."
Dean Campaign Gains Momentum From College Students, Internet
By Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON - When Greg Morin's friends try to talk to him on the computer, they come face to face with his latest obsession: Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean. The Trinity College senior attaches a pop-up photo of Dean to every instant message he sends.
The unusual campaign technique might seem foreign to most voters, but it could be the key to unlocking a potential new political force: Generation Y.
With their funny lingo and their high-tech methods, college students and their under-30 peers are swarming to the Dean campaign in numbers that belie their reputation for apathy. Their grassroots support has become a major element of what campaign officials have dubbed "Generation Dean"-the largest youth outreach by any of the nine Democratic contenders.
Dean boasts 725 youth-run coalitions-called GenDean groups for short. In Connecticut, clubs at six colleges, three law schools and seven high schools have registered with the organizing website, generationdean.com.
Yale sophomore Beth France is a regular at New Haven's monthly Dean rallies, called "meetups," and chronicles the experiences by "blogging" in her LiveJournal-a public Internet diary service with 1.3 million registered users.
University of Connecticut sophomore Taylor Woods spreads the word on Dean campaign events and college rallies via her automatic e-mail address book, or "listserv," which she uses to communicate with hundreds of other Dean supporters. She rarely uses the phone anymore, let alone pen and paper.
They're young and idealistic, but unlike college students of decades past, this new generation is more likely to express its political views through on-line journals than by marching on city hall. Tech-smart and pop-culture savvy, they're highly resistant to patronizing political types and slick media marketing.
Still, Dean has broken through, in part, by meeting the students on their own turf: the Internet.
The former Vermont governor has used unorthodox "e-campaigning" - to reach out to young people. His campaign speaks the fickle language of twentysomethings raised on the Simpsons, the Clintons and Madonna. Top Dean staffers publicize their Instant Messenger screen names, allowing viewers to contact them day or night. Yahoo! Groups has 659 different Internet bulletin boards that focus on the candidate. And three electronic greeting cards are available on generationdean.com, a site which boasts more than 13,000 young members.
Dean's lead among Democrats in campaign contributions comes, to a great extent, from on-line donations. During the second quarter of this year, he raised $3.6 million of his $7.6 million total through the Internet.
At least as unusual: one-fourth of Dean's 83,041 financial contributors that quarter were students.
"It's amazing that other politicians haven't taken the same advantage" of Internet campaigning, said Morin, 20, coordinator for Connecticut GenDean groups and president of the College Democrats chapter at Trinity. "Young people are so plugged into technology, and this allows them to get involved through a medium where they already feel comfortable."
Young people aren't the only ones who connect to Dean on-line. Senior citizens, Mormons, even some Republicans - and a host of little-known individuals - post dozens of blogs for his campaign. More than half of the visitors to the Connecticut for Dean web page are over 30, said Aldon Hynes, the site's webmaster.
But Dean made a special effort to reach out to young people during his recent seven-city "Raise the 'Roots" tour, which attracted about 10,000 people. He appeals to youth with his anti-war rhetoric, his fiscal conservatism and his support, as Vermont's governor, for the nation's first bill recognizing gay civil unions.
"People see him as the rebel," said Caroline Conway, president of the College Democrats of Connecticut and a senior at Fairfield University. "He gives off a much better sense of being in touch with young people than the other candidates."
Generation Dean spokesman Michael Whitney said Dean is paying particular attention to potential new voters, even among the generation that traditionally votes least. A record-low 30 percent of registered voters under 30 turned out for the 2000 presidential election "He isn't looking at his supporters as free labor-they're driving this campaign," Whitney said. "They have a lot of stake in the next election."
But if history is a guide, Dean should not stake his campaign too heavily on youth. Some political scientists draw comparisons to the failed campaigns of Democrats Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972-both anti-war candidates with large student support.
"He is an ideal candidate for disaffected young people," Dorothy James, a Connecticut College government professor, said of Dean. "They're mad as hell and they're anti-incumbent."
But some of the same qualities that appeal to students might alienate other voters, said John Hollay, president of the College Democrats chapter at UConn.
"The size of student support is impressive, but if he focuses only on the angry college leftist, he's going to run into trouble," said Hollay, a supporter of Sen. John Kerry, of Massachusetts. "Howard Dean speaks a lot of good rhetoric, but he needs to expand his appeal to more moderate voters."
Likewise, Internet politicking has little influence outside college campuses and activist groups, said Tobe Berkovitz, an expert in Internet marketing and associate dean of Boston University's College of Communication.
"This is not a great way to reach suburbia," Berkovitz said. He said the number of serious political bloggers and web-surfers pales in comparison to the much larger and more reliable voting bloc of middle-aged adults and senior citizens.
But following Dean's early Internet success, nearly every one of his opponents is utilizing technology to reach potential voters. Kerry and retired Gen. Wesley Clark now hold meetups, which are organized on-line. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut keeps a web diary and a bizarre photo collection, titled "Dogs for Joe," which displays his supporters' pets. Even President Bush has joined the blogging world.
"Candidates in prior elections had web sites before, but now they're realizing the Internet is a mobilization tool," said George Edwards, head of the Center for Presidential Studies at Texas A&M University. While Edwards said it is highly unlikely young people will swing the 2004 vote, he said they are the largest untapped political resource.
"I still dream of seeing student movements rise again," said France, 19. Last month, she distributed free brownies on Yale's Cross Campus lawn that read "The Doctor Is In," a reference to Dean's profession, and sold T-shirts that said, "Put A Different Yalie In The White House." Dean and Bush are Yale alumni.
Despite the large number of button-hawking, sign-painting "Deaniacs" and "Deanyboppers," many college students said they feel removed from the political process and are not ready to settle on a candidate just yet-not even one with an Instant Messenger account.
UConn sophomore Shawn Logue said he supports Dean. But he hasn't been moved to write a blog or join a GenDean group. In fact, the 19-year-old said he is still formulating his political opinions. "It takes quite a while to figure out what politicians stand for," Logue said. "And at this point, it's still possible for me to change my mind."
CT Grandparents Rally to Gain Government Support
By Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON - A heart attack left Hollister Brown unable to care for himself or pay his bills.
Costly triple-bypass surgery emptied his family's savings last month and forced Brown, 48, to leave his job at a Hartford Wal-Mart. His wife Sheila, also 48, receives disability payments and does not work.
Their financial problems are making it difficult for the Browns to support their grandchildren, Shanekwa and LaShay, who live with them. The Browns, of Hartford, are the children's primary caretakers.
"Back when I was raising my own kids, you needed two or three jobs to make ends meet," Hollister Brown said. "I just can't do that anymore, obviously."
Although the Connecticut Department of Children and Families has money to help some grandparents who care for grandchildren, it cannot help the Browns. State money is reserved for children who have been turned over to relatives as a result of a court order, usually because of parental abuse or neglect. The relatives must go through extensive training and become licensed caregivers, similar to foster parents.
The Browns said they began caring for their grandchildren when their daughter was unable to, but they did not receive a court order.
Grandparents who take a child into their home without legal action and a license are not eligible for the state funds-which amount to about $8,500 per child annually.
The Browns, along with about 30 other Connecticut grandparents and hundreds more from across the country, marched on Capitol Hill this week for the first national "GrandRally to Leave No Child Behind." They urged Congress to pass legislation that would give states federal money for grandparent caregivers, help provide the families with affordable housing and give them temporary help in their homes.
"We have to pay the bills, too, so what's the difference?" said Carolyn Jackson, a parent coordinator for New Haven's public schools and caretaker for one grandchild. "For the state to give more funding to a foster parent, usually a total stranger, that is wrong."
Jackson said many low-income grandparents who take care of grandchildren are under 40 and, in many cases, still have children at home.
About 6 million grandparents nationwide lived with their minor grandchildren in 2000, and 42 percent of them were the primary caregivers , according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 1999, the latest year for which figures are available, 19 percent of these grandparents were living in poverty.
In Connecticut, about 19,000 grandparents report that they are responsible for their grandchildren. They take on the responsibility for a number of reasons, including a parent's death, incarceration or long-term illness.
It's a costly proposition.
"Utilities, food, clothing, school supplies, medical bills-the cost of living is unbelievable," said Valerie Allen, 49, of Hartford. "I need more help."
Allen is raising two grandsons, each with chronic asthma, and said she needs more government support to help find good housing in a better school district. She worries about how to pay for their college educations.
Financial help is scarce and difficult to locate.
"These families have shown tremendous commitment without the resources," said Carol Shirley, spokeswoman for the AARP, a senior citizens' lobby. "They deserve the same benefits they would get if their grandchildren were in the system under foster care. People need help in order to help themselves."
Linda Cobbs, 52, who is raising three grandchildren in Hartford, said many grandparents help each other through old-fashioned networking.
Once a month, Cobbs leads a group called Parents The Second Time Around. She and about 30 others have been meeting for five years.
"People just say, 'You're a grandparent-it's your obligation' to pay for the needs of the grandchildren, Cobbs said. "But now it's our responsibility as a community to make sure they aren't being penalized and get the support they deserve."
Air Quality Index to be Available Year Round, Include Particle Pollution Levels
By Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency soon will test New London's air for pollution every day of the year, rather than only in the summer.
"We have unhealthy air year-round," said Andrew Spejewski, a spokesman for the New England office of the EPA. "We're not as bad as L.A., but Connecticut is still highly affected."
Spejewski blamed Connecticut's high levels of haze and soot on its large commuter population, its proximity to New York City and on the flow of emissions from power plants as far away as the Midwest. The New London-Groton region has been one of 300 areas the EPA tests daily during summer months. Now, it will be among 145 cities tested for particle pollution year-round.
The EPA generates a color-coded "air quality index," which is used mainly by meteorologists to forecast high ozone levels. But the elements of particle pollution-microscopic toxins from smoke and exhaust, combined with gaseous reactions in the atmosphere-pose a continuous hazard, according to the EPA.
A grain of table salt is 40 times bigger than one toxic particle found in contaminated air, and smog clouds are formed when high numbers of such particles exist in one location.
This summer, Connecticut reported 14 days with pollutant and ozone levels deemed unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as children, the elderly and those with respiratory problems.
Tracy Babbidge, assistant director of air planning for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, said the year-round checks would help raise public awareness about the issue.
"It's very important to be able to provide the public information to make the right choices about their daily activities," Babbidge said. "The best way to protect yourself is to reduce exposure when necessary."
Alison Davis, spokeswoman for the EPA's office of air quality planning and standards, said the new warnings would also benefit people - particularly children -- who exert themselves outdoors.
"Children take in more air per pound of body weight, and, let's face it, they're the ones more likely to be running around outside," Davis said. "And activities like running or gardening make you work harder and breathe deeper, so you pull in more air."
Davis said inhalation of hazardous particles has been linked to lung and heart disease.
But both ozone and particle pollution levels can vary throughout the year, and even vary from year to year, depending on temperature and weather patterns. Connecticut, for example, had nearly twice the amount of high-level ozone days last year as it did this year because of extreme humidity in 2002. Other factors, such as geographical conditions and concentration of industry, also affect air quality.
While the EPA expects the air quality index to become a staple in future weather forecasts on television and in newspapers-it's already been picked up by USA Today-the levels are not high enough to warrant broadcasting on a daily basis, said Bruce DePrest, chief meteorologist at WSFB-TV in Hartford.
"It's not really an issue this time of year," DePrest said, adding that winter winds from the Northwest blow particles out of the region. "But if it's a very still morning or a lot of people are burning fires, we might give an index update."
The air quality forecasts are posted daily on the EPA's website, www.epa.gov/airnow. In addition to forecasts for the New London-Groton area, the site contains air quality levels for Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford, New Haven, Stafford and Torrington.
Dodd says Alcohol Ads Inappropriately Target Children
By Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON - From beer commercials featuring scantily clad women wrestling in a water fountain to south-of-the-border spring break television broadcasts and sexy, suggestive magazine advertisements portraying a life of glamour, young people are constantly exposed to alcohol marketing. And so they drink, said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.
The federal government isn't spending enough money to educate parents and minors about alcohol's consequences, Dodd said this week. He urged a coordinated national effort to reduce and prevent underage drinking.
"The federal government spent $1.8 billion to discourage illegal drug use and only $71 million to discourage youth alcohol use" in 2000, Dodd told a subcommittee of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. "More must be done."
Nearly 11 million youths aged 12 to20 said they consumed alcohol last year - 7 million of them by having five or more drinks in an evening, according to a survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, a branch of the Health and Human Services Department.
In Connecticut, 20.6 percent of 12-to-17-year-olds said they have consumed alcohol, the sixth-highest rate of underage consumption in the nation, HHS reported.
Dodd blasted the ads both for their images --of video games, sexuality and women who appear to be under 21 -- and for their marketing methods. He said television ads often air in afternoon and early evening time slots and that print ads frequently appear in youth-oriented publications.
"What's going on with an industry where beer ads air during 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' 'Dark Angel,' 'Gilmore Girls' and 'The Daily Show' or in magazines like Vibe and Spin?" Dodd asked."What's the point of advertising to that age group when you know they can't purchase the product?"
In fact, one-fifth of yearly liquor profits are from sales to underage drinkers, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Wendy Hamilton, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, told senators she thought many parents were unaware of the problem's seriousness, and that even the ones who permit teenagers to drink at home or while supervised still put their children at risk. She said alcohol was a major catalyst for violence at a suburban Chicago high school last spring, when a throng of students beat and threw mud and feces at younger girls.
Likewise, the Connecticut Coalition to Stop Underage Drinking reported that 73 percent of the state's high-school students who drink get their alcohol from people who buy it for them. About one-third of high school students obtain liquor with parental permission and about two-thirds of teen drinking occurs at parties in their own homes, according to the report.
David DeAngelis, a 17-year-old high school senior from North Haven, Conn., described to senators the relaxed attitudes held among a number of his peers and their parents.
"Many parents not only condone the use of alcohol, but also provide liquor to their children and their children's friends," DeAngelis said. While he cited a number of incidents where illegal consumption had occurred in his community, he added, "This is not a problem confined to North Haven."
Meanwhile, the problem's financial and social expenses are too great to ignore, panelists at the hearing said. Teen alcohol use costs Americans about $53 billion a year- including $19 billion from automobile accidents and $29 billion from alcohol-related violent crime, according to a study by the federal Institute of Medicine published in September.
Dodd said the country could deal a significant blow to the alcohol industry with a well-funded media campaign similar to the one that has been used against cigarette smoking. He said public service ads targeting the dangers of cigarettes have affected popular perception and spawned restrictions on public smoking.
"The tobacco industry never believed it would happen-and it did," he said. "An awful lot of this has to do with advertising."
Survey Finds Students Unsatisfied With Federal Loan Program
By Kevin Joy
WASHINGTON - When Jen Deblasio began her freshman year at the University of Connecticut, her concerns about classes and dorm life outweighed any worry about annual tuition increases and far-off loan repayments.
Three years later, her perspective has changed. A few weeks into her senior year with more than $20,000 in loans, Deblasio works 10 hours a week at a work-study job to help her parents pay for her housing, food and books, and to defray 13 percent tuition hike this fall-$2,070 for out-of-state residents and $760 for in-state students, such as Deblasio.
"I'm so scared I'm not going to be able to pay these off," Deblasio, 22, said of the loans. "But I'm more worried I won't even find a job."
With rising price tags at private and state universities, a growing number of students face the prospect of borrowing ever larger amounts of money each semester. The situation is particularly acute at public schools, such as the University of Arizona or the State University of New York system, where tuition rates soared by 39 and 28 percent, respectively, this fall.
About 9 million students currently receive some form of federal aid - a grant, loan or work-study employment assistance -- at a cost of $59 billion a year, and approximately 400,000 more students will seek such aid next year, according to the U.S. Department of Education. But a nationwide survey released last week by the Coalition for Better Student Loans, a Washington-based advocacy group, shows that a high percentage of undergraduates find the federal aid inadequate and the borrowing limits too restrictive to cover the rapidly increasing costs of attending a four-year college.
In that survey, 91 percent of 400 students who responded said they want Congress to increase the amount they can borrow in federal student loans each year. And 84 percent said that if the government has limited resources to guarantee student loans, it should offer greater financial assistance to current and future students, rather than adjust or delay loan repayment rates for graduates.
"Federal loans have better terms and conditions, repayment plans and lower interest rates" than private loans, said Dallas Martin, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. "But educational costs continue to climb, so there's a much larger amount of students forced to take out private loans."
Amendments to the Higher Education Act established a need analysis formula for federal student aid more than a decade ago that the survey says is now outdated. A freshman, for example, may take out a maximum of $2,625 in government loans. That number has not increased since 1992 and is only $125 more than the limit in 1972. Students who participated in the survey said they would cap loans at $8,900 per year.
"The current borrowing amount bears little relevance to changes in consumer prices," said Terry Hartley, senior vice president for the American Council on Education, which represents major colleges and universities. "Students know that $2,625 doesn't buy as much as it did five, 10 or 30 years ago when the program was enacted."
Hartley said loan of $4,000 for freshmen is more reasonable to meet modern tuition levels.
But a significant increase in the size of government loans would provide only a short-term solution and impose an even greater liability on graduates as they look for jobs in a shaky economy, said Elaine Solinga, director of financial aid at Connecticut College.
"I am leery about putting too much of the financial burden on students," Solinga said. "If you increase loan limits, students will graduate with more debt. It's a Catch-22."
While Solinga said Connecticut College meets the full fiscal needs of its undergraduates, more of its students have taken out private or alternative loans over the past few years, . The private university raised its total charges for tuition, room and board this year by 6 percent, or $2,275, to $37,900.
The Connecticut State University system, which consists of Central, Eastern, Southern and Western Connecticut State Universities, also increased tuition by 13 percent for the 2003-04 school year-an average of $580 for in-state and $1,380 for out-of-state students. Wesleyan University and Trinity College, where a year of classes costs about $30,000, each increased tuition by 6 percent this fall. Yale University and Mitchell College both raised tuition by 5 percent, to $29,288 and $18,128, respectively.
The Coalition for Better Student Loans sent its survey results and proposals to members of Congress, who will be looking at federal spending as they consider reauthorization of the Higher Education Act next year. The coalition is asking for higher federal loan limits and the elimination of a 3 percent "origination" fee charged on such loans.
