Campaigns hope to lure young voters to polls

WASHINGTON — Ah, youth, that fickle force in politics. Young people bring energy, passion, creativity and technical wizardry to the presidential campaign — everything, it seems, except impact on Election Day.
With their Web logs, Facebook profiles and college rallies, the 2008 presidential candidates are lavishing attention on a group that displays unbridled enthusiasm early in the campaign but tends to lose interest when the voting starts.
For all the star-studded voter registration drives featuring the likes of Madonna and Sean "Diddy" Combs, more than half of the people in the United States age 18 to 24 who are eligible to vote typically are no-shows on Election Day. By comparison, some 70 percent of those 45 and older cast their ballots, according to the Census Bureau.

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