Wes, thanks for kicking us off. Here, at SCOOP2012, we will incorporate our own reporting and analysis, based on sourcing: all the campaign whispers and cries on the ground.
Young people are excited, Wes, but still preoccupied with realities of 2012 for your twentysomething: A depressed economy, continued post-grad joblessness, unrelenting college loans and our collective national debt. They are fed up with politics as usual in D.C.
For now, we'll consider Tuesday's New Hampshire vote, the first-in-the-nation primary of the GOP contests. For now, Libertarian enthusiasm for Congressman Paul (and, to a lesser extent, Evangelical zeal for former Senator Santorum) have overtaken the Obama "youth buzz" of the 2008 cycle.
The Christian Science Monitor has begged the crucial momentary question: Will young people turn out on Tuesday?
Young people are likelier to vote if they believe their impact has real consequence. It could, both in reshaping the Republican campaign and the November electorate. The New Hampshire college-aged primary voters do not share the disposition of most Iowa caucus-goers.
Watch out for the Granite State's youth to wage a fight for the most maverick (and least party-tailored candidate): the moderate Jon Huntsman, Jr., a former governor of Utah who "lives free" from partisanship like no other GOP candidate. His center-right views and criticism of Obama economics could be the most persuasive for the youth vote.
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