Carrie Kirby at
The Atlantic writes—
Why Students Want to Lower the Voting Age:
Oliver York has heard it all—and the 16-year-old political activist is always ready with a well-researched answer.
He has heard critics refer to him and his cohorts as pawns of liberal San Francisco supervisors looking for a few extra votes. He’s heard that if given suffrage, teens would just mimic their parents’ voting patterns. That reminds him of the historical argument against women’s suffrage.
“‘You'll just vote the way your husbands vote.’ They said for workers, ‘You’ll just vote the way your overseers vote.’ I think there are some references on this sheet here,” says the teen, who wears a blue plaid shirt and rimless glasses. He leans over to proffer a fact sheet on the local initiative to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal and school board elections.
Jillian Wu, also 16 and sitting across from York in an office in San Francisco’s Beaux Arts City Hall, locates the pertinent fact on the sheet: In the Scottish independence referendum, in which 16- and 17-year-olds voted, 44 percent of the teens voted differently than their parents. [...]
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2009—Whitman For Governor Rollout Woes Continue Unabated:
For a candidate whose first foray into elective politics was met with an enviable raft of prominent endorsers (Mitt Romney, former Governor Pete Wilson, and John McCain) and a ton of free media, the past two weeks have been absolutely brutal for California Republican Meg Whitman. The alleged frontrunner for the GOP nomination for Governor in the Golden State, her introduction to the political stage has been pure amateur hour.
It started with a Sacramento Bee investigative story, which outlined an almost comically sparse voting history for the first-time candidate. The same weekend as that revelation became known, Whitman was blasted in a straw poll at the state GOP convention by state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
Then, last week, Whitman tried to explain her proclivity for electoral absenteeism, and dug herself in deeper, making the rather silly excuse that she was too busy raising a family to register to vote.
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On
today's Kagro in the Morning show:
Greg Dworkin notes Trump's ahead in FL, OH & PA, while Clinton holds her leads but loses ground among Ds. (MSM: “Disaster!”) Gallup gallops away from the horse race. Mass shooter profiles are becoming very familiar.
Joan McCarter notes we may have Boehner to kick around a little longer, so John takes his time cleaning up the barn. Gop House ready to Benghazi Planned Parenthood. David & Joan discuss the need for all of you out there to report on voter suppression shenanigans like those popping up in NC & MD. What's happening near you? Email joan@dailykos.com!
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