LAT: Politicians Make Use of Wrestlers' Hold on Youths

[DeepModem Mom]

THE NATION
Politicians Make Use of Wrestlers' Hold on Youths
The major parties have gotten into the act as stars of the sport work to boost voter turnout.

By Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — Politicians usually rank near the bottom in public approval, down there with government bureaucrats and journalists. But for one battered industry, rubbing shoulders with the political world has actually improved its favorability ratings.

World Wrestling Entertainment, whose hulking, body-slamming, object-hurling superstars perform under names like Triple H, the Rock and Edge, has taken up the cause of voter turnout — especially for young people.

And the effort is paying off in favorable publicity. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) invited WWE officials to a recent youth summit on Capitol Hill. The University of Virginia is using the group's voter materials in its curriculum for 10,000 teachers involved in this year's Youth Leadership Initiative mock elections.

Even the League of Women Voters, the sweet-faced grandmother of voter outreach, has joined forces with the originators of WrestleMania for the Smackdown Your Vote! drive to turn out 2 million new voters ages 18 to 30, a group with a traditionally low voter turnout....

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Pelosi was sufficiently keyed to the falloff in youth voting that she started a caucus for thirtysomething congressmen, a dozen members of Congress who address students and other young audiences. In April, she sponsored a Next Generation Democratic Summit that attracted 250 people — and two wrestlers, Chris Nowinski and Victoria, who urged young people to get involved and to vote....


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-wrestlers22aug22,1,245164.story?coll=la-home-politics