One often wonders whether politicians are paying attention to young or younger-minder voters. I resist the term "millennial" because the newly active voter demographic should include, to an important extent, voters born at least as early as 1980.

I often espouse the opinion that Obama is successful because he is the youngest, least overtly political candidate for president running for the Democratic Party nomination in 2008. But tonight, watching Obama's speech in Iowa just prior to the official poll-closing in Oregan, I saw a glimpse of the new politics of which he promised to espouse. No, it was not in his pseudo victory speech. Instead, it could be heard in the outro music to his appearance tonight. One thing that I noticed early this season is that once Obama became the "front-runner" his outro-music for most appearances was Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours." That is a great musical call, but certainly more aggressive a campaign move than a political statement.

Tonight, however, I saw something different. And I wonder if anyone noticed. The prologue to this event is that days ago President Bush delivered a speech before the Israeli Parliament during which he analogized diplomacy with Iran, Syria, etc., to appeasing Hitler's Germany before or during World War II. Leave to one side the fact that (a) depicting a philosophy of diplomacy as akin to one of appeasement is nothing short of depicting an elephant's eating habits as indicative of that of rabbit (i.e. not at all similar); and (b) the only congressmen in the Untied States during the 1930s or '40s who favored appeasement were members of the GOP. Instead, focus on the important issue that President Bush is once again revitalizing the fear-mongering that has dominated politics since 2002. It is undeniable that the Karl Rove era, post-Cold War, politics is premised upon fear-mongering in the new foreign policy landscape. And it is quite clear that much of this theory is premised upon a parade of horribles in the middle east. President Bush escalated this to a new level in his speech overseas.

But today Obama responded. Not with rhetoric -- although he did deliver a speech reminiscent of his triumphant speeches in Iowa, South Carolina, and other genuine "Yes We Can" moments -- but with instant classic post-9/11 Bruce Springsteen. You most certainly will read about Obama's resurgent tone of confidence and change. More importantly, however, his speech ended with Springsteen's "The Rising." The album, The Rising, is a Springsteen's post-9/11 effort that is beautiful, sad, but most of all hopeful. (It has a sequence of songs: "Empty Sky", "Worlds Apart", and "Let's Be Friends".)

I'll spare you the details of my experience working on a campaign in fall 2002, taking the day off for the first anniversary of 9/11, and spending the day driving around the Rocky Mountains listening to The Rising for the first time (before listening to some Wilco and Jerry). But since that very first listen, what has always stuck with me is how the album -- and the title track -- is overtly hopeful. The Rising expressly rejects the notion that we should live in -- or vote based upon -- fear. Instead, in the title track's closing lyrics, the Boss opines that along with fear comes new opportunities for growth. In other words, new reasons to hope for an evolved politics. Admittedly, it is not Dylan in the '60s. But it is a 21st Century nexus of politics and meaningful lyrics. Here is the closing lyrics to the tune that Obama employed tonight, just prior to "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours." Please, tell me if I'm crazy to think that employing this song as Obama's outro sends a message rejecting Rove's politics of fear.

Sky of blackness and sorrow ( a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness ( a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear ( a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow ( a dream of life)
Your burnin' wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life ( a dream of life)

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

In 2001 when I got my license, I distinctly remember pulling my used white 1998 Dodge Neon into the gas station and pumping my tank full of 99 cent per gallon gas for a grand total of 11 dollars. When I was a senior in high school, and I wanted to skip class, I remember having 25 bucks which would get me from Sussex County, Delaware to Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia with enough money left over for a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, lunch, AND a pack of cigarettes!

When I turned 16 and got my license, my Mom was overjoyed because I LOVED to drive. I mean, I LOVED it. I began taking over the responsibility of grocery shopping. I would get a list of items, about $100 cash, and I had to shop for our family of three and make it last for one week. I was pretty good at it--getting crafty and using my calculator (which has stuck with me to this day) and my little brother loved it because I could usually budget to get him some zebra cakes and myself some perogies.

Today, it is 2008. I am almost 23 years old. My car is a low emissions vechile which gets 25 mpg, and it costs me $45 to fill my tank with gas. I live with my partner and when the two of us go shopping we spend at least $100 per week--and I don't always get perogies. A year or two ago we got those reusable bags, which we use every week. We own 6 of them; yesterday we only able to fill 4 1/2 of them with food on our budget.

Now, don't get me wrong. We are very grateful for our lives. We love our lives, to be exact. But money IS getting tighter and tighter. Every day the gas prices are going up. (Yesterday they were $3.67; today it's $3.71). Milk is $3.59 for a half gallon. Bread is at least $2.50, but if you want something healthy, be prepared to pay more. The number of people eating at soup kitchens has almost doubled in the last year. Is anyone getting the picture????

Food is becoming a problem... people are starving. Our responsibility as Americans is to let our government know when they are letting us down in whatever way they will listen. Voting is important and it is the best way to effectively erradicate corruption from office. But I really believe--heart and soul--that rioting and marching are another responsibility that we have to tell our government when something is OUTRAGEOUS and WE WILL NOT STAND FOR IT. Take a cue from Al Sharpton--who was arrested in the marches he led on behalf of Sean Bell. Where has the heart of America gone? Where is our backbone?

Are we so disconnected that we are willing to suffer in silence rather than to band together and stand for something?

Ben Smith at the Politico is now reporting what Matt Stoller blogged as rumor earlier this week: that the Obama campaign is telling progressive donors to withhold funds from "outside" 527 organizations. At this point it's inclear whether this means all 527 organizations or all just the media organizations that might run negative campaigns in the fall.

Senator Barack Obama's campaign is steering the candidate's wealthy supporters away from independent Democratic groups, calling into question what had been expected to be the groups' central role in this year's Democratic offensive against Senator John McCain.

Obama's national finance chairwoman, Chicago hotel mogul Penny Pritzker, told supporters at a national finance committee meeting in Indianapolis May 2, and in other conversations, not to give money to the groups, people familiar with her comments said.

From the perspective of the Obama campaign, this makes sense. It reinforces their message of rejecting the partisanship of the past and don't need anyone muddying their message with negative ads. They have a large enough volunteer base geographically dispersed enough to run their own 50-state field campaign (which they already launched this last weekend).

That's a short-sighted view, however. The Obama campaign isn't the end-all, be-all of progressive, or even Democratic, politics. He may well have the money and volunteers to pull this off all by himself this year, but will he do the same next year, while he's busy pushing policy and his name isn't on a single ballot? Will he lead the media and field campaigns during the 2010 midterms? What happens when Obama is no longer on the ballot? Or if Obama should become an unpopular president and can no longer muster the same forces as we're seeing now?

One of these things will eventually come pass, and when they do, we will need those "outside" organizations to step up and fill the gaps as they have these last years.

In the realm of youth organizing, there was nothing happening outside of non-partisan voter registration prior to 2003. That was rectified by the creation of numerous 527 and 501c4 organizations during the last election cycle. Presumably these, too, would be defunded if the Obama campaign has its way.

Not all campaigns, will be as successful with youth as Sen. Obama. The state parties are still quite bad at targeting young voters. We will have a hard time maximizing youth turnout without those organizations, and I worry that if these new institutions have funds withheld this year, they will wither on the vine and in a few short years we will be back where we started pre-2003.

Some might argue that Obama is posturing. That this is just a pose to maintain his post-partisan image. That all depends on how serious the donors take him and what they decide to do with their money this cycle. If donors ignore Obama's statements and give anyway, then no-harm no-foul. The article makes clear, however, that some donors are taking him seriously:

The donors have been considering entreaties from Progressive Media USA, run by conservative-journalist turned liberal media critic David Brock; from former Clinton aide John Podesta's Fund for America; and from America Votes, a group backed by billionaire George Soros that focuses on voter mobilization, among other efforts.

But in recent days, major donors have begun to conclude that Obama is serious in trying to cut off funds to the outside groups.

"It's given donors pause," said one prominent Democratic donor of Pritzker's words.

Youth organizing is supported by so few donors. Indeed, the big struggle now is to find mid-level donors to help make our new infrastructure more sustainable and less dependent on the whims of one or two funders. If even a few of these funders heed the Obama campaign's words, it could have drastic effects on the sustainability of our nascent youth movement.

I hope that doesn't happen.

So, for those of you out there who aren't big gamers, I feel your pain! I am not a big gamer. But my partner is, and he is always reading up on the latest and greatest games, and finding out cool little tid-bits about the gaming world. Every now and then, there is something he tells me about that catches my attention, and is actually pretty cool.

Nintendo Wii is truly a cool gaming system. I mean, you can break a sweat without leaving your living room, and for me, that is news-worthy! I have to admit, I am  impressed with the system and all of it's perks. (Like being able to hook it up to a broadband connection and play with anyone around the world--pretty groovy.)  In today's world, it seems technology is boundless. A couple of days ago, in the dorkiest magazine for gamers, I came across a pretty cool feature of the Nintendo Wii that I had been unaware of: Voting!!!!!

Yes, that's right HeadCounters--it's everywhere! So here's how it works; You have to be hooked up to the internet and there is a section you can access where people all over the US are voting. They are voting for things like, "do you prefer pie or cake" (people actually prefer cake by more than 20%!!!!) And the system gives you the results, and then breaks it down my region as to who prefers what. (Let it be known that people on the East Coast and Deep South prefer to eat pie, and those in the Midwest and West coasts, let them east cake!) Now, while pie and cake may not seem the most relevent issues, (unless it's your birthday) I am always impressed when I see these types of things. It's kind of a funny thing because we seem a culture obsessed with voting. Don't believe me? Just go on your favorite news website. I'll bet you that they have a daily vote....like "Should Hillary drop out of the race?" (That was on www.time.com yesterday.) So, being as such, why don't so many go out and vote in the "biggest vote" our country has? Furthermore, if Nintendo Wii can manage to have an effective vote casting arena...why can't the government???

Already stories of voters being turned away at the polls are popping up. First, a group of nuns were turned down in Indiana for not having proper Identification. Read about it here...

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gRN59j2QQCVZYwfdLSokUeN1K9hQD90GCNHG0

The Student PIRGS just released a group of stories about students that are being turned down at the polls. See below. Remember, your ID does not have to match your registered address and it does not have to be an Indiana state issued ID.

19-year old Angela Hiss, a sophomore and computer science major at the University of Notre Dame, was turned away from the polls this afternoon as she attempted to vote in her first election. After arriving at her polling location, she presented several forms of identification - her school ID, a piece of mail that showed her campus address and an Illinois driver’s license – but was misinformed that she could not vote because she could not show in-state ID. Poll-workers, according to Hiss, also did not advise her that she could cast a provisional ballot, as required by state and federal law. Instead, they suggested visiting local Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain the in-state identification required by Indiana’s newly-upheld law, an endeavor that could take hours, she explained. Furthermore, while the law allows her ten days to obtain the required ID from the DMV, Hiss’s travel plans will not give her time. As a result, she said, she will not be able to vote in the primary.

19-year old Allyson Miller, a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame and volunteer at a local children’s clinic was similarly turned away from the polls today. An Indiana resident since the age of five, Miller left her driver’s license in her dorm room, and arrived straight from class at the polls with her school ID and registration confirmation papers from the County Registrar. Upon arriving, however, poll-workers did not allow her to vote without a state-issued ID. “I plan to come back because voting is a big deal to me,” said Miller, “but it’s a huge inconvenience, especially with a final tomorrow.”

19-year old Becky Jenkins, a sophomore and member of the tennis team at Butler University was also unable to vote in her first election today. “I didn’t know that I had to have an Indiana ID,” she said after she was turned away from the polls for attempting to cast her ballot using a driver’s licenses issued by the State of Illinois. When asked if she would instead cast a provisional ballot, Jenkins also said her travel plans wouldn’t allow her to.

Just a quick reminder for everyone voting in the Indiana and North Carolina Primaries.

If your voting in Indiana, BRING YOUR ID! Remember, this ID card does not have to match the address you are registered to vote at. You can vote as long as you have an ID card. If a poll worker tells you that you can't vote because your ID card does not match your registered address, THEY ARE WRONG! Insist upon voting and if all else fails fill out a provisional ballot and follow up with your local election board.

If you are having any trouble at your polling place, or finding your polling place in general, please call 866-OUR-VOTE. You can use this number in both Indiana and North Carolina. There are a group of lawyers and election workers on the other end that will help solve any problems you are facing.

Good luck at the polls. Remember, it is your right to vote, and there are a lot of people out there who are trying to stop you from doing so. Dont let that happen!

If you haven't done so already, Register to Vote at www.HeadCount.org today.

HeadCount operates by partnering with artists to help engage their fanbase and the live music scene. It's a good strategy. Studies show that peer to peer organizing is the most effective way to engage people in the political process, and who are more our peers than those who listen to the same music and live in the same culture as ourselves?

So what does that look like? Here at Head Count, looking from the top down, it means partnering with artists. It means finding a band with a commitment to our democracy and to making the world a better place, and help them and their fans fulfill that commitment at the ballot box. It's an organizing model based around an artist's geographically dispersed fanbase, united by their love of the music and desire to see change.

That's the view from the top down. It's a good model. It's what makes Head Count successful and has registered tens of thousands of voters. But it's not the only model for organizing around live music, and from the bottom up, the live music scene is anything but geographically diverse or based around individual artists. It lives in tight clusters centered around cities and more specifically the music venues within those cities. For me, it used to be the Wetlands Preserve in NYC - a great venue where, before it closed in 2001, the jamband and hip hop scenes mixed with environmental activism. These are the homes of live music for many. They can also be local centers for change.

This is the other model of music activism - using venues as the local focal point for social change - and there are a number of projects across the country doing just that.

Recently, WireTap magazine sat down with some of those groups as the final installment of a nine-part series on cultural activism. Here's a few of those organizations and what they have to say about a compelling question: Why Build A Movement Among Youth-Driven Cultural Spaces?

Shannon Stewart - The Vera Project - Seattle, Washington

I echoed a lot of what had been said, and added something of a social urban planning perspective, "I think about space -- like physical space -- and its role in cultural change and social change. For The Vera Project, I feel like the space was what was holding the possibility for there to be social change within that cultural community."

And of course, it's how you hold and shape the space that matters. In Seattle, aside from producing music, spaces like Vera also tackled mass voter mobilization efforts that changed the course of elections, community responses to sexual assault, strong alliance-building for youth rights and liberation, anti-war protests and anti-globalization organizing. Connecting young people through art -- and in a space that was set up unconventionally -- created a platform for people of different identities and communities to come together and tackle hard issues, alongside of nurturing new sounds, artists and aesthetics.

Lori Roddy: Neutral Zone - Los Angeles

Lori explained how she is trying to understand culture's function in her work, "I think [culture] is sort of a consciousness of the way that people think, the way they understand the place that they live in and the way that they interact with one another. It's the way they express their interaction or the way they sing, the way they write, or the way they perform. It's a way of internalizing and understanding the way things are. And to change that internal hegemonic perception of [culture] is a big piece, I think. Social change then to me is identifying more of the actual policies, practices, and laws. ... With that definition, the Neutral Zone is really functioning more on the cultural change [side]. It's raising the consciousness of young people, [affirming] that they are competent, capable individuals, that they should have ownership. They don't have to wait to be adults."

Gavin Leonard: Elementz - Cincinnati

Gavin went next. "So the crux of it is ... does the organization see itself as doing cultural or social change work? ... Probably, actually, neither. ... Our mission is to inspire and engage. You can't make cultural change unless you have a culture and are connected with people or, like I say to people all the time, that Elementz is this youth center that has street credibility and then pretty much all I do all day is figure out how to define street credibility." Gavin explained that street credibility is what helps an organization like Elementz get connected with young people, helps young people get connected to one another to create their own culture, and also connects them to the power to make change.

Kevin Erickson: Department of Safety - Washington State

Kevin Erickson from the Department of Safety in Anacortes, Washington, added, "Well, the Department of Safety in its founding was sort of operating on a lot of different levels. They wrote manifestos and deployed all this Marxist rhetoric, meanwhile maintaining a radical humility about their actual expectations about what they would be able to accomplish. Now, I think that we're permanently radical by virtue of existing where we exist and by doing the kind of work that we're doing in the place that we're doing it. I think it's indicative of the current state of cultural politics in America today [that] we have left rural areas out and the red states have been defined as cultural wastelands. [So] by putting together [an argument] that, 'No, actually the town you are in is valuable. You and your friends are capable of doing really good things,' it tends to break down that binary between social and cultural by really shortcutting the fundamental dynamic at work."

There is a lot more on the way that culture can bring about change, and the role that a physical space/community out of which to organize plays in that change. Go read the whole piece.