Reply #53: Young voters a grand prize for candidates [View All]

The traffic-clogging lines that curl into Barack Obama's rallies contain a diverse group, from mothers toting young children to bearded professionals in sturdy all-weather boots. But perhaps most desirable are voters like Lynn Xie, who waited in a quarter-mile-long line last week to hear the Illinois senator speak.

"It's really exciting for me," said the Dartmouth College student, boning up for her first presidential election. "I just turned 19."

Obama turned the Democratic contest on its ear last week with a decisive victory in the Iowa caucuses, generated in large part by overwhelming support from voters younger than 30.

Nearly six in 10 in that age bracket supported Obama - more than five times the number that voted for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.youth07jan07,0,1836222.story