Young voters' interest fizzles [View All]

[windansea]

ANN ARBOR — Campaigning for the youth vote has its own peculiar challenges for Megan Wilbur.

Prowling the dormitory hallways of the University of Michigan, Wilbur has been known to discuss Howard Dean’s attributes to half-naked guys in towels. Often, she shouts her get out the vote message over the beeps and gurgles of video games.

But the biggest challenge facing the 21-year-old senior from Ann Arbor is one faced by a generation of political activists — finding a way to motivate young voters.

Hopes for a youth voter boom in 2004 are fading with the campaign of former Democratic front-runner Howard Dean. The legions of young voters inspired by his Internet-focused campaign are dropping out of the process rather than switch their allegiance to another candidate, according to Michigan pollsters.

http://www.detnews.com/2004/politics/0402/04/a01e-55303.htm