Texas Blue Mailbag, Week of December 30, 2007

If you don't read this week's Mailbag, you run the risk of Chuck Norris roundhouse kicking you in the face.

Denise says:

Hi Josh,

I just finished reading your post - "The Kids Are Alright" and wanted to pass along a press release that I think you'll find to be a great resource and confirmation of your blog posting about youth vote and this election. I've attached the release that was put out this morning by one of my clients - Declare Yourself (www.declareyourself.com), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded by television pioneer, Norman Lear. Their mission is to get the youth registered to vote.

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like further information on Declare Yourself.

Josh answers:

From the release:

Declare Yourself, the leading national nonpartisan, nonprofit youth voter organization today released national data confirming that the historical turnout of youth voters last night in Iowa is likely to sustain itself through the 2008 presidential primaries and into the general election.

Declare Yourself, founded by television pioneer Norman Lear, confirmed that the rate of registrations by young voters, particularly first-time voters, using Declare Yourself’s on-line registration form has increased 575 percent from Declare Yourself’s relaunch in July 2007 to January 2008’s projected total.

In another key statistic, the number of 18-24 year olds visiting Declare Yourself’s website (www.declareyourself.com) to register and obtain information about the elections and the registration process climbed 437 percent from July 2007 to this month (projected). All statistics represent a national cross-section of young people.

I have seen Declare Yourself before and I think it is a great thing. And I sincerely hope this is the election that proves everyone wrong, and that the kids do get out and vote. If they do, everything will change, and every model will be thrown out the window because many of the tried-and-true strategies won't be matters of certainty anymore. I'm trying to shed my cynicism, although it is dug in pretty far, but Iowa proved that, at least in some cases, kids will vote. I don't know that this will happen, but I think the possibility is higher now than it has been in the past, and I would like to see it.

BP asks:

About California suing the gubbernment over the carbon emissions: essentially, can anything come from this lawsuit? Because these seventeen states are demanding higher standards for these cars, so what's to keep each state from implementing their own laws on it regardless of the restrictions the EPA tries to set? Because at some point it will become an issue of demand, and the states will be like, "phooey on your waiver!"

George says:

I think it can. To answer the inside question first, "what's to keep each state from implementing their own laws on it regardless of EPA restrictions," I guess the answer is "the EPA." See, the issue here is not of demanding higher standards for cars — it's that the federal government (specifically, the EPA) is denying states the right to set higher standards if they so choose. A state that did so without an EPA waiver would in theory be in violation of the federal Clean Air Act.

The administration is saying that states have no business setting emissions standards, and that that should be done solely at the federal level. California is arguing that their particular situation makes it a state interest to have even stricter standards — and considering that they're the most populous state in the nation, and LA is consistently in the top two or three most polluted cities in the U.S., I think they may have a point.

CN says:

Did I see right that Edwards got second place but Hillary got a bigger delegate share in Iowa? And why didn't Obama get more delegates?

Josh says:

You did see right. Observe that Obama got 16 delegates, Edwards got 14 delegates, and Clinton got 15. This is the kind of story that hasn't been getting much attention, but may garner more notice as the primary season wears on and Obama and Hillary refuse to quit because they've still got dollars and manpower: the actual delegate share from the first leg of primary season is pretty small, and the big payload (or at least the big grouping) comes on February 5. The spread in Iowa was expansive, but the delegate spread is very small.

If the delegate breakdown stays very close on through February 5, you could see Clinton, Obama, and Edwards hoarding their delegates and careening towards a brokered convention. It isn't definitely going to happen, but by the time the delegate count becomes the story, things could overall be too close to call.

Kyle says:

Can I say that seeing Chuck Norris on Politics TV is weird.

George answers:

You can — at your peril. Just watch out for a Chuck Norris beatdown.

After all, we all know that Chuck Norris doesn't really talk about politics — he roundhouse kicks politics in the face until it does what he wants. Iowa learned this the hard way. Don't be next.