AZ Republic’s Nowicki: “McCain has big appeal with vets”
The Arizona Republic’s Dan Nowicki writes that while older voters are disproportionately represented at Senator McCain’s campaign appearances, he has a presence on the Internet and does regular conference calls with bloggers/new media sites. He also quotes McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan as stating that McCain has cross-generational appeal. Here are some excerpts from the article:
Headline: McCain has big appeal with vets
Sub-headline: but campaign is missing youth-filled electricity
by Dan Nowicki - August 14, 2007
MERRIMACK, N.H. - John McCain can always draw a crowd at campaign stops.But unlike in 2000, when he first ran for president as a Republican maverick, McCain’s audiences now are generally dominated by older Americans, many of them military veterans. They admire McCain’s Vietnam War service and believe the Republican senator from Arizona is the candidate best prepared to handle 21st-century foreign-policy challenges.
What’s often missing is the electricity that younger people lent to McCain’s 2000 bid to upset GOP front-runner George W. Bush…
Popularity with older voters has advantages. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that voter registration for the 2004 election was highest among Americans 65 and older; roughly 70 percent of those who voted were 45 or older.Still, politicians relentlessly pursue younger voters, hoping to harness their contagious passion.
McCain’s independent streak struck a chord with many young voters in 2000. But some of those supporters are turned off now by his evolution into a more-traditional Republican candidate, including his support for the Iraq war…
For his part, McCain dismissed suggestions that his campaign is attracting mostly older voters.“There were a significant number of young people here tonight, and a lot of them had very important questions,” McCain said after the Thursday session at the adult community center.
Brooke Buchanan, a campaign spokeswoman, said McCain, who turns 71 on Aug. 29, still has cross-generational appeal.
Young people can understand and appreciate his Vietnam ordeal even it if happened before they were born, she said.
“He has kids in my generation,” said Buchanan, 26. “He is able to connect with people of all ages, on different levels, on the issues that matter most to them. That is one of his great attributes.”
An ice-cream visit
McCain is reaching out to young people in several ways.
On Thursday, McCain will make another appearance on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, a television program popular with college students and other young adults.
“Young people today get most of their news from the Internet,” McCain quipped Saturday at a house party in Milton. “They don’t watch the evening news, as you know. Tragically, they say they get their news from Jon Stewart.
“That shows that the Apocalypse is upon us.”
McCain’s campaign is present on MySpace.com, Facebook.com and YouTube.com, which are frequented by Web-savvy 20- and 30-somethings. McCain has more than 40,000 “friends” on MySpace, a social-networking site. He regularly participates in conference telephone calls with bloggers.
Immediately after his Thursday town-hall meeting in Merrimack, McCain visited the King Kone ice-cream stand, greeting and shaking hands with startled young people.
“I’m not a big fan of the stance on the war that he has, but . . . he’s definitely my favorite Republican,” said Robby Mitchell, a 19-year-old independent from Merrimack….
Senior support
The preponderance of older Americans at McCain’s town halls may have something to do with the old-fashioned forum. To accommodate younger, working families, the campaign recently started scheduling more events on weekends and evenings, Buchanan said….
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