Maybe it was Obama's coattails. Maybe it was the Republican brand falling into such disrepute. Most likely, it was the voters recognizing a qualified challenger against a contemptuous incumbent.
But Republican Carol Elliott is blaming "brainwashed" voters for losing her job as Grafton County, New Hampshire's County Treasurer to this year's Democratic challenger - Vanessa Sievers, a current junior at Dartmouth College.
How did 20-year-old Sievers brainwash voters and defeat 66-year-old Elliott? With slick advertising, of course. Sievers ran a Facebook ad aimed at local college students, spending nearly $45. And with Sievers buying that kind of influence, how could 3-term incumbent Elliott stand a chance?
"It was the brainwashed college kids that made the difference," fumes Elliott.
This is one more reminder of the great effect Obama has had, inspiring young people and getting youth to make a difference at the ballot box.
This also provides one more example of the bigotry still faced by youth. Rather than concede graciously, Elliott has been making ageist attacks. "You've got a teenybopper for a treasurer," says Elliott. "I'm concerned for the citizens of Grafton County."
Sievers, who has experience as a bookkeeper as well as a teenybopper, says, "I don't know why people think college students are less informed than other members of the community. ...I think college students are connected, and sometimes know more than the 'real' citizens. ... I think we're just as real citizens as anyone else in the county."
I hope we'll see more of this in months to come: young people seeing that they, too, count as "real citizens."
Full article in Newsweek.