Senate candidates emphasize importance of youth voter turnout

With all the tracking polls, talk shows and media-driven political analysis, it seems the nation is abuzz with election zeal right now.\nBut the politicians know better.\nThey understand America is caught in a downward spiral of declining voter turnout. They know young voters are among the worst offenders when it comes to political nonchalance. And they're left with the question many pundits have recently considered: "How do we make them care?"\nA recent MTV poll of 600 young people found that only 75 percent of 18-24 year-olds could name both presidential candidates without prompting, and only 30 percent could name both vice-presidential candidates. Thirty percent of those surveyed claimed any sort of interest in politics and government, and only 33 percent said they were certain to vote in this election.\nMany politicians are struggling to find the source of this disinterest.\n"It's a huge problem everywhere," said U.S. Senate candidate David Johnson, a Democrat. "I'm terribly concerned about turnout, both as a candidate and an American citizen."\nJohnson said he believes many student voters simply have nothing drawing their generation into politics.\n"I voted when I was 18," said Johnson, who was among the first group able to vote after Congress lowered the age requirement from 21 to 18, allowing youth to vote on issues such as conscription and U.S. military involvement overseas.\n"We don't -- and I'm glad we don't -- have any issues that are compelling people like that today," Johnson said.\nLibertarian Senate candidate Paul Hager said he agrees voter apathy is an enormous problem but cites different potential causes. Hager said he thinks students are up against the wall in a political system dominated by two main parties. \nBut, he warned, this is not an excuse for apathy.\n"I agree with the students," Hager said. "We're entering the 21st century and have a chance to put that all behind us. Let's acknowledge the failures and move on. If you want politics to be relevant to you, get involved."\nBoth Hager and Johnson have tried to reel in the student vote by bringing up youth angles on time-tested issues such as Social Security and the national debt.\nHager, for example, advocates dissolving the existing Social Security to benefit young workers and students about to enter the work force.\n"That means phasing out the pay-as-you-go Social Security system," he said, "which is broken and can't be fixed unless you are willing to pay significantly higher taxes and be older before you can collect."\nJohnson, on the other hand, has tried to equate the national debt to credit card bills, a tangible comparison for most college students today.\n"Its like paying off your credit card," Johnson said of the debt, "and once you do it, your bills go down, and you're only paying for what you need to buy."\nRepublican incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar has taken another approach. Using the Senate position he has held for four terms, Lugar has worked to develop several initiatives that bring younger voters closer to the political system -- an annual symposium for tomorrow's leaders, strong internship programs in Washington and Indianapolis and increased effort to communicate with students around the state.\n"He's tried to visit with university students and with high school students who are first-time voters," said Andy Fisher, Lugar's press secretary. "We want more and more younger people to vote."\nAnne Scuffham, president of the IU College Republicans, said she believes this is a crucial year for young people to get out and vote.\n"Essentially this election is going to affect politics for the next 10 years," Scuffham said. "We have what could be the continuing of an administration or a whole new administration. This is the beginning of a new millennium, and changes are taking place."\nDespite efforts to get students involved in this election, most remain distant, if not completely uninformed. And for those students who do end up at the polls Nov. 7, many of them vote along party lines, not for a specific candidate.\nSenior Chip Coldiron said his main impetus in voting in this year's Senate race will be to even out the Congressional playing field.\n"I will be voting for the Democrat," Coldiron said. "The only reason behind this is to keep as many Republicans out of Congress"