Voting Today, Leading Tomorrow: Will Young Voters Change America?

On Monday I will be in Berkeley to participate in a panel at the Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service. Details are below. If you have thoughts on this topic, leave them in the comments and I'll try to bring them to the discussion. If you are in the Bay Area, I hope you'll drop by. The event is free and there is no need to RSVP. Just come as you are. Should be interesting.

"Voting Today, Leading Tomorrow: Will Young Voters Change America?"

Monday, April 27, 7:30 p.m.
Pauley Ballroom West in the MLK Student Union Building, UC Berkeley

Free and open to the public

The 2008 presidential election has seen an unprecedented surge in the registration of young voters, a group that has often been disengaged from politics. Will young people remain engaged in politics beyond this election cycle? What can be done to encourage young people to stay involved in politics? What difference might it make for the country?

Panelists:

Mike Connery: Author of Youth to Power: How Today's Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow's Progressive Majority he also blogs full-time about progressive youth organizing at FutureMajority.com.

Nicole Lapin: News anchor for CNN.com Live. Lapin joined CNN in 2006 becoming on of the youngest news anchors in the company's history. She hosts a weekly interview series entitled, "Young People Who Rock," which focuses on young people under 30 who are doing amazing things.

Meghan McCain: McCain is a well known blogger and author: thedailybeast.com and mccainblogette.com, she is the daughter of John McCain and experienced first hand the campaign trail during this last election cycle.

Heather Smith: Executive Director of Rock the Vote, founder and former director of Youth Voter Strategies, and served as the national field director for the student PIRGs New Voters Project.

Randi Zuckerberg: The face of facebook, Randi Zuckerberg is the spokeswoman for Facebook and worked closely with CNN on their integration with Facebook for the inauguration, even serving as a guest anchorwoman for CNN broadcasts from Facebook on the day of the inauguration.

Sponsored by the Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service

Co-sponsors include: Berkeley College Republicans, Cal Berkeley Democrats, and the Undergraduate Political Science Association.