By WILL LESTER
The Associated Press
Saturday, June 10, 2006; 8:10 PM
WASHINGTON -- Youth may be wasted on the young but not $3 million. Several deep-pocketed Democratic donors, frustrated with party chairman Howard Dean's effort to attract young voters, are offering up to $3 million in grants to organizations that could persuade those age 18-24 to vote Democratic.
"The party's plans to reach out to young people are incredibly insufficient," said Deborah Rappaport of Redwood, Calif., one of the donors. "If we don't pay attention to them now, we will lose them."
Rappaport planned to announce the plan to award grants on Friday at a convention of liberal activists in Las Vegas. The donors plan to award up to a dozen grants over the next three years that could total $250,000 each to groups or individuals in 12 states. Those states are Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington.
The donors include Rappaport and her husband, high-tech investor Andy Rappaport, and businessmen Jonathan and Peter Lewis.
They cite the results of the 2004 presidential election in which those 18-29 were the only age group to back Democratic nominee John Kerry. The Massachusetts senator won that group 54 percent to 45 percent, according to exit polls.
About 47 percent of Americans 18-24 voted in 2004, up from 36 percent in 2000, according to the Census Bureau. No other age group increased its turnout by more than 5 percentage points. Even with the increase, the youngest voters still had the lowest turnout rate. Nearly three of every four people aged 55-74 voted in 2004.
Luis Miranda, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, countered that the party has made several efforts to mobilize young voters, including the creation of a youth coordinating council and leadership training for College Democrats in 40 states.
Dean is scheduled to address the convention on Saturday.
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ The Democratic challenger to Sen. Rick Santorum is questioning why the Republican changed parts of his controversial book for the audio version.
Santorum said public schools offer "weird socialization" in his book "It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good," but changed it to "strange socialization" in the audio version. Santorum also omits references to a cyberschool, said Larry Smar, a spokesman for Democrat Bob Casey.
Smar accused Santorum of "trying to re-spin" his more contentious statements. Santorum spokeswoman Virginia Davis referred questions to the publisher.
Illinois-based Oasis Audio, which produced the 10-hour abridged audio book, asked for a shorter version of "It Takes a Family," said Jeremy Beer, editor-in-chief of ISI Books of Wilmington, Del., which published the print version.
"Ultimately, the nature of those cuts was up to the author," Beer said in a statement. "We did provide some editorial consultation to the author as to what cuts might be made while preserving the integrity of the book."
Smar said the audio book left out references to an Internet charter school Santorum's children enrolled in while living in Virginia. The tuition was paid by Santorum's local school district in Penn Hills, which caused a flap.
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NEVADA, Iowa (AP) _ Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle said Friday that he would challenge Gov. Tom Vilsack in Iowa should both decide to seek the party's presidential nomination in 2008.
One day after a visit to New Hampshire, Daschle toured Iowa and raised money for local politicians, part of his itinerary as he weighs a White House bid. Vilsack also is considering seeking the nomination, but Daschle said he wouldn't be deterred if Vilsack decides to seek the party nod.
"If you think you can give the country new leadership and new direction, that's what matters, not who else is running," said the former South Dakota senator.
Some strategists say a Vilsack decision to run would render Iowa's leadoff precinct caucuses irrelevant because other candidates would stay away. Daschle made it clear that wasn't the case and said he would "absolutely" challenge Vilsack in Iowa.
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Associated Press Writer Mike Glover in Nevada, Iowa, contributed to this report.