Obama Appears With Biden

Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama appears as a "surprise guest" with Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Joe Biden at the DNC.

Bill Clinton at Radio Row

Bill Clinton's speech and at the Talk Radio News Radio Row

The Iraq Chain Gang

Dan Patterson interviews the 'Iraq Chain Gang'

Click To Play

DNC Youth Council Speaks Out about Strong Democratic Turnout of Younger Voters

Yesterday in downtown Denver, at the Wells Fargo Theater in the convention center, College Democrats of America came together to talk about the "Nuts and Bolts" of younger Democratic voters. Lead by DNC Youth council Co-Chairs Jane Fleming Kleeb and Jason Rae, along with a panel that included CNN correspondent Jamal Simmons.

The Youth Council was quick to point out a major shift since 2000 of younger voters moving to the Democratic Party. In 2000 of voters 18-25, 46% voted for the Republican Party and 48% voted for the Democratic Party. In 2008 that same demographic is expected to split 34% to 65% in favor of the Democratic Party.

What's the cause for this major shift? The Youth Council credited many different methods. A major issue touched on was lower barriers and making it easier to register. The panelists agreed that some younger voters are too embarrassed to admit that they aren't registered. Rock the Vote uses a tool on their website that helps younger people register without feeling that embarrassment. A group called the Pink Bunnies dresses up in pink bunny costumes to try and alleviate any stress there might be of registering to vote.

The Youth Council also pointed out that in the last presidential election 82% of registered voters 18-25 came out to vote. This high number was attributed to many of the different and news ways to register, but Jamal Simmons noted the fact that networks like CNN use younger and more diverse correspondents help to engage younger voters in political discourse.

- Show quoted text -

Congresswomen Speak on Women's Issues at Symposium

“At last [women] have a seat at the table,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D - CA) exclaimed to a crowd of cheering supporters at the Symposium for Unconventional Women in Denver. Notable Congresswomen and other champions of women’s causes spoke on the issues facing women’s participation in the federal government. Protesters from anti-war organization Code:Pink interrupted Pelosi’s speech on several occasions to voice their opposition to the American military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In her speech Pelosi encouraged working women to run for federal office. “Isn’t it better to have working moms looking to Congress and seeing working moms?” she said. Pelosi’s words were echoed by Senator Claire McCaskill (D - MI) and Amy Klobuchar (D - MN) who recounted their experiences running for office as mothers.

The symposium also included women’s rights leaders Allana Goldman of She Should Run and Page Gardner of Women’s Voices, Women Vote. They noted the lack of single women running for office. Gardner said, “We can no longer afford to have single women sit on the sidelines of democracy.” Allana Goldman noted that while women tend to win elections at the same rate as men, too few are encouraged to run for office, a major reason that women constitute only 16% of Congress.

As Pelosi, the highest ranking female to hold office in the US, took the stage, members of Code:Pink rushed holding signs and pleading with the speaker to remove troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. One member denounced Pelosi from a balcony for supporting waterboarding and American military involvement in Afghanistan before being removed by security. Several members continued to interrupt Pelosi’s speech from the crowd, many insisting that Pelosi end the war. “I will stop the war,” Pelosi responded, while also saying she wished the protesters would “put their energy into voting for Barack Obama.”