The most interesting reading on this blog today are the comments and the link that others have contributed in response to my post on Howard Dean. (See yesterday.)

On a similar topic: I spoke this morning to the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) conference. I talked about the importance of civic education and the main threats to it, hoping to recruit some Secretaries of State as allies. They are, after all, responsible for the election system in its broadest sense; and civic education makes people into voters. Then a bunch of colleagues and I held a conference call to discuss how we can fight to retain the NAEP civics assessment. (See February 6th’s post.) I’m quoted in a Gannet News Service story: “Young voter turnout did jump initially ? up fourfold in Iowa ? though it has leveled off as it appeared the Democratic nomination had been settled. ‘There?s no place where the turnout was down,’ said Peter Levine, deputy director of a Maryland center that studies young voters. ‘It probably bodes pretty well for the general election.'” And now I’m off to talk by speaker phone to a class of University of Wisconsin students about why youth don’t vote.