Media: election issues, health care reform, global warming

Younger voters leaning toward Obama?
Political scientists have noted that younger voters have less tendencies to align themselves with either party—Democrat or Republican. But the Barack Obama campaign has made more of an effort than John McCain to attract young voters, Prof. Michael Kraft told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “His campaign organization has made it a point to conduct voter registration drives on campuses by campaign staff people who are close to college age. And it’s not an accident that many of his visits have occurred on college campuses.” Kraft said he senses less overall enthusiasm on the college campus for McCain and believes the generational and technological divide may be a factor. Read more.

Wild ride on Election Day?
There’s always a chance it won’t, experts say, but this election should go more smoothly than in 2000, when the nation didn’t know who its next president would be until a month after the polls closed. “I’m not completely confident that we’ve done everything that we should’ve done in terms of ensuring there’s a smooth process and a fair process for registration, so we do not have errors or challenges,” Prof. Michael Kraft told the Press-Gazette in a related article. “I think the way political scientists see this, is that no matter what election system you have there are problems.” Optical scan voting machines in Wisconsin should minimize the problems here, Kraft said. Read more.

Health care referendum reaches some ballots
An advisory referendum question regarding health care reform legislation, put forward by the advocacy group Citizen Action of Wisconsin, will reach as many as 750,000 voters in six counties and 16 communities, including Green Bay. The question asks if Wisconsin residents should be guaranteed affordable health care coverage as good as what state legislators get. Prof. Lora Warner told the Appleton Post Crescent that finding support for the concept is one step, but getting something done is another. “It has many pieces that may complicate it,” she said. “”Universal coverage is one item, while coverage as good as state lawmakers get is another.” Read more.

Kraft column on a “green frontier”
Prof. Michael Kraft wrote a column recently—which was picked up by news wire services—about politicians continuing to pay attention to environmental issues. “Doing nothing about global warming at this time puts the nation at far greater economic risk, because dealing with it later could cost us much more,” Kraft argues. Read full column.