Hillary Retracts Her Comments; Yepsen Keeps Hammering Away

Last weekend, Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd both issued statements casting doubt on the legitimacy of students "from out of state" caucusing on January 3rd in their university precincts. As I noted at the time, both Clinton and Dodd were deploying the language and tactics of those who would disenfranchise students. An excellent article in the American Prospect today lays out the history of such tactics.

In response to an outcry from Democratic youth orgs, a number of young bloggers, and some good behind-the-scenes work from youth advocates, the Clinton campaign issued something of a retraction to their comments yesterday evening:

Hillary Clinton’s Communications Director Howard Wolfson: “The Iowa caucus is so special because it is based on Iowa values. We believe that every Iowan and every student who is eligible to caucus in Iowa should do so and we hope they do."

This is a good step, but we're still not there yet. This statement, which came to me via email from Emily Hawkins, the Clinton Youth Director, still feels squishy on the issue. It's a positive step, but I would have preferred to see somethign much more definitive like: "Hillary Clinton affirms that all students who are enrolled in an Iowa college or university have a right to participate in the caucus, and we encourage them to take advantage of this opportunity to participate in an important and unique part of the American political process." More troubling is that this statement appears nowhere on the Hillary Clinton website or on HillBlazers - the youth component of Hillary's campaign.

Even were that to happen, though, that still isn't the end of this. Dodd has yet to issue a retraction of his comments, and just today, David Yepsen continued to delegitimize the participation of students in the Iowa Caucus (emphasis mine):

At first glance, Clinton may have more luck with her strategy than Obama has with his. Only 5 percent of the likely Democratic caucus-goers are under age 25, while 50 percent are over age 55. Also, the Jan. 3 caucus date comes when many students are on break and may be out of town, which is why Obama is making an effort to get students who are not from Iowa to vote here.

That's an outrageous statement from Yepsen. He's continuing to insinuate that these students do not have the right to participate in the caucus, even though the Secretary of State's office has specifically stated that their participation is 100% legitimate. As I've noted in the past, Yepsen is a serial offender here, deriding the youth vote for low rates of participation with on column even as the next discourages their participation.

This is wrong in so many ways. As many have noted, not only are the students legally allowed to participate, they are real residents of Iowa in all senses of the word. They live there 9 months a year for at least four or five years. They pay taxes in the forms of sales tax and state/local taxes from their jobs (yes, many students actually work). They are for more invested in what happens locally in Iowa than they are at their parents home.

Whoever you support - Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Dodd - all Democrats should agree that the Democratic Party is not in the business of discouraging or disenfrachsing voters. That's a Republican tactic. All of the campaigns should issue statements - prominently displayed in their online press room - in support of the rights of students to participate in the caucus. As should Howard Dean (time to put some muscle behind all the nice speeches about the importance of young voters) and the chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party. There should be no doubt left in anyone's mind - be it a nervous student getting ready for their first caucus or David Yepsen himself - that these students have a right to caucus, and the entire Democratic Party encourages that they exercise that right.