Minority Issues in the U.S. Presidential Election

TARGET: women & young people

40 million women did not vote in the last election. Wow. That number is larger than the number of residents in the state of California.

Yesterday, Oprah hosted a "vote party" on her show. She had the A-list of Hollywood's engaged there - Cameron Diaz, Sean P-Diddy Combs & Drew Barrymore. The focus was on getting women & young voters to understand the importance to vote.

Quotable
Here are some quotes from the show:

• "If women alone voted, they could decide the next election." - Drew Barrymore
• "I've been discouraged with the 2-party system ..." said an Oprah audience member, to which Oprah replied "So you just thought you'd back out of the whole thing?"
• Political campaigns are not designed for (young people), they are designed for 70s year olds - but 70 years olds vote." - Jon Stewart
• "Listening to the candidates like listening to Telemundo & not speaking Spanish." - P-Diddy

Organziations targeted at getting the minority vote moblilized

• Uvote
• 21st Century Youth Movement in Selma, Alabama
• Declare Yourself
• Citizen Change

For more on Drew Barrymore's youth vote mobilization project, watch "The Best Place to Start" tomorrow on MTV at 9 a.m. CST (10 EST).

posted by k @ 7:13 AM