Jake Ellison of the Seattle Post Intelligencer writes: "America's college kids are digging politics again, eager to turn the country on its head. Shrugging off a long stretch of electoral apathy, millions of students are ready to flock to the polls a week from today in what experts say may be the biggest resurgence of the youth vote since 18-year-olds were granted that right in 1972. The percentage of students across the nation who say they've registered to vote has climbed to 87 percent -- far outstripping the number eligible to cast ballots in 2000, according to a national poll by Harvard University's Institute of Politics." The same poll also shows that the majority of young people favor Kerry - by at least 60-40% (some polls put it at 65-35%).

A new national poll by Harvard University's Institute of Politics shows Kerry leading Bush 52-39% among college students. This is VERY good news - "exceptionally high interest in the presidential campaign on college campuses, and turnout among college students is expected to rise dramatically. Nearly 72 percent of college students report that they are 'certain' they are registered to vote and 'definitely' plan on voting this November. The Harvard poll also reports that Senator Kerry maintains a 17- point advantage among likely voters in key swing states."

The media's latest assaults on Kerry have backfired -- it has only pissed America's young people off and driven them to action. Officials at Rock the Vote say that in the past week, an astounding 20,000 young people a day have downloaded voter registration forms. Across the nation, state by state "new voter" programs are reporting the same phenomenon. Kerry is overwhelmingly favored by voters under 30 - although the media is now blacking out this info or running polls suggesting "vanishing support." In fact, campus surveys and non-media polls show the opposite - Kerry is favored by under-30s by 2-1. (http://www.democrats.org/news/200408180004.html) In France, when the young people realized that a rightwing candidate had a ghost of a chance, they turned out in such numbers that le Pen was given a humiliating defeat - 18-82%, against all bogus poll predictions!! Let's do it here: Let's hand Bush a HUMILIATING defeat!!

"A melding of live performance, film, panel discussions, and rallies brought some 3000 delegates and participants to Newark, NJ last week for the National Hip Hop Political Convention. The group, which represented an impressive cross section of the hip hop generation, came together from urban areas around the nation to educate and inspire one another's activism and grassroots involvement. And while there was much talk of the important role this group can and should play in November, the focus went far beyond election 2004. The hope was to create a solid infrastructure that can take hip hop beyond the realm of entertainment and improve the relationships between the older, 'Civil Rights Generation' and younger hip-hop heads. Instead of endorsing a single candidate or drilling the importance of voting into participant's heads, convention organizers remained focused on the issues - from education to health care to the prison industrial complex - that most need attention."

How low can you go? Not much lower than Urban Outfitters, a "hip" clothing store that targets young consumers. The store is now pushing a T-Shirt that reads "Voting Is For Old People." The plot thickens when it is revealed that Urban Outfitters has donated thousands to the GOP. The cynical, obvious scheme is to try to "sell" youth on the idea that it is uncool to vote - the same progressive youth MOST LIKELY to vote AGAINST Bush. Grammy-winning artist Al Jourgensen, founder of the band Ministry. has confronted Urban Outfitters CEO. In a letter Jourgensen writes: "Your T-shirt design is knowingly irresponsible. It is a disgusting effort to reap profit from cynicism while suppressing civic involvement, and encouraging apathy, not to mention referring to our senior citizens as 'old people'." Go Al, Go!