Happy New Year Everybody!

We're three days into January and this year is already bursting with excitement.

I watched Jay Leno last night, no beard.. but it was an unpolished side of Jay. Kind of like.. "Hey I'm back on the show, but I'm just skipping until I get some interviews."

Unpolished Jay was alright though... I enjoyed it.

Then there's Iowa.. I mean come on... The future president has to win Iowa? How many people care that are not from Iowa or front runner states? I heard that if a candidate does win Iowa and New Hampshire then it's over for them... What about winning California? New York? Florida? or Texas?

This will sound derogatory of course, but when I imagine an Iowan caucus I have this vivid image of the Lord of the Rings tree herders gathering around in a circle to discuss whether or not they'll go to war, and the candidates are bouncing up and down like the hobbits telling them to hurry up! One reporter from NBC said that the Dem's caucus starts at 6:30 Central and might go as long as 9-10pm. The GOP caucus apparently starts at 7 and could go all through the night. This is definitely going to be one exiting night, maybe when we're done will throw a barn dance! Ok maybe that's too far, but I feel jibed that I couldn't and won't be able to attend a New Hampshire or Iowa town hall meeting with Hillary, McCain, or the others. Remember John Kerry? The most I remember was that I got to stand on (I think) the Hawthorn bridge and watch him speak at the amphitheater. Tough break I suppose for us who aren't in the center of the storm.

As it progresses (that is the campaigns) I've spotted two theme categories: The one the candidates want to put forward as "the debate" and the real underlying debate.

These big themes seem not to be experience or change (that's the debate the candidates want to frame it as), but independence. I'm speculating here, but it seems that people are tired of the Rove Rule that candidates only need to appeal to 51% of the populous. I mean what a shocker it would be to have a land-slide candidate?! And the only way I see that happening is to mobilize young voters to put their WiiMotes, handhelds, etc. down and vote for a change.

In Washington State they literally mail you a ballot for the general election. It behooves youth to get involved and register so that they can have a piece of the pie.. However, there's little hope of that happening if nothing has changed from 2000 or '04. I sound like I did days after the John Kerry defeat. Everyone who got involved in John Kerry knew that the outcome might have been different if the youth came out to vote, all the "get out the vote" stuff seemed to be a failed experiment. Regardless, we need to encourage young people once again, with a new revived vigor, to vote when they're given the opportunity, even if they're too young, because making "voting" as desirable as getting a license would literally change the political dynamics of America.

I get a feeling that youth are more independent then their parents at the same age. All a republican needs to do is revise "Reganizm" and sell it not as "I'm just like Ronald Regan," but as neo-republicanism. Youth, including me, do not know or have never felt the effects of Ronald Regan (because we're 3 or 4 yrs old at the time) and so Republicans who want to connect with youth will either have to reform their message to make since for us, or make it clear what the ideals of Ronald Regan was (and what he did) on the Wiki page of Wikipedia.

We'll see how this turns out... It's really torqued my head around.. luckily I don't have to figure who I'll vote for until late Feb. or March.

Good times and Kudo's to anybody who is still track'n with what's going on.

~J