ACT

It's another day on airplanes for me (I'm on a plane now flying from San Fran to NYC as I write this, I'll upload when I land), and I only had time this morning to read through about half the items in my RSS Reader. Here's some of the stuff I found interesting. Tomorrow I'll have some thoughts on the McCain candidacy and the youth vote, and on Friday I'm hoping to complete a review of the book UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks of Christianity . . . And Why It Matters.

I've finally had a chance to read Obama's speech on race in America. Like most people, I was blown away. I'm still digesting but it really was like nothing we've heard on race in our political discourse at least during my life. In all the post-delivery reporting I've read, I'm finding Glen Greenwald seems to have one of the more interesting takes on whether or not Obama will succeed in his goal of elevating the level of the conversation on race in America, and Press Think offers a play by play on how the media - particularly CNN and Wolf Blitzer - immediately failed to rise to the occasion.

Another news item I missed at Take Back America was the announcement that a number of progressive leaning institutions (and non-partisan groups that most do progressive stuff) will be dumping up to $425 million into the 2008 election cycle. This will be similar to what America Coming Together did in 2004, but hopefully will have learned some new tricks/lessons along the way. Included in those efforts and budget will be Rock the Vote. Ben Smith at the Politico provides an estimated break down on that money:

AFL-CIO: $53.4 million
AFL-CIO affiliates: $200 million
Change to Win affiliates: $100 million-plus
MoveOn: $30 million
Acorn: $35 million
Rock the Vote: $5 million-plus
La Raza: $4 million-$6 million

Two thoughts. First, that is a shitload of money from the unions. I wonder what sort of outreach that the unions will do to young voters and young members. Second, of the remaining $75 million another good chunk will likely find its way to youth vote registration and GOTV. Rock the Vote is the only youth-only org on the list, but MoveOn, Acorn, and La Raza are all likely to spend resources on reaching young voters as well. MoveOn did some youth organizing in 2004, Acorn has been known to do youth work in communities of color,and I'm sure La Raza will likewise look to reach young Latinos, who are a fast growing (and increasingly Democratic) constituency.

There are no reports yet on how this money will be spent. Knowing what we know about reaching young people - and in organizing generally - what I'm most interested in finding out is how much of this money will go to media vs. field work. It's too early to start arm-chair quarterbacking these institutions, but it's something to watch.

Having trouble understanding wtf is up with the credit crunch, the subprime mortgage fiasco, and the recent bank failures? The New York Times tries to boil it all down for you and does a decent job of it. It's times like these when I wish I took less Lit classes in college and added on a course or two in economics.

Finally, I loved Tim Fernholz's take-down of the Ron Paul "movement" over at Campus Progress. Fernholz is talking generally about all Ron Paul supporters, but one thing I would add to his piece is the total evaporation of Paul's youth support. Some of you may remember that Ron Paul was touted as the Republican "youth candidate," and his savvy online supporters helped him come out on top in the final MTV/MySpace candidate dialogue, but that support never materialized at the polls, where he failed to capture the youth vote (18 - 29) in a single contest, often finishing 10 points or more behind John McCain or Mike Huckabee.

• I don't know where I found it, but check out this trailer for Beautiful Losers, a new documentary about DIY culture in the 1980s. We need to be bringing this ethic and cultural sensibility into youth politics.
• On a related note, Danah Boyd is asking whether or not MySpace profile cut and pasting qualifies as remix culture.
• Moving from outsider nerd art to uber-political geek, the FEC is fining America Coming Together, the giant 527 GOTV operation funded by billionaires in the 2004 election. The now basically defunct group must pay $775,000 for improperly using soft money to support the election campaign of John Kerry. I wonder if any other 527s from 2004 are going to come under the gun of the FEC . . .
• In a throwback to the 2000 election, some may remember that Gore voters in Blue States were using the internet to trade votes with Nader voters in swing states. A court has ruled that such "vote swapping" sites are now legal.
• Blog for Democracy wants to know why no College Democrats or Young Democrats caucused together at the recent Nevada America Majority Partnership meeting in Las Vegas. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Nevada Young Dems are now looking for a new Executive Director . . . ?
• Meanwhile, California Progressive Majority notes that they are making big strides in incorporating CDA and YDA into party activities:
  

  Still, the California Democratic Party refuses to take the youth vote for granted, and is continually taking proactive steps to solidify support from young Californians.

  For instance, the CDP is currently establishing new partnerships with the California Young Democrats and College and High School Democratic clubs to build upon the successes of 2006 among young voters. In 2006, the CDP recruited over 2000 students from 160 high schools across California becoming Democratic Activists for the first time.

  And this year, the CDP raised its goal for youth representation in the California delegation for the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

• Conservative author and Campus provacateur D'nesh D'Souza got into a brouhaha at my Alma Mater during a debate with professor Alan Wolfe. Read about it here and then head over to Campus Progress to contribute to their Conservative Course Catalog Contest. The winner receives $250.