"Obama ... Obama ... Obama ... Obama ... Obama ..."
Uh-oh.
"Obama ... Obama ... Obama."
It's a bust, I thought. My attempt to probe the political mind-set of young voters by meeting a mixed assembly of 28- to 32-year-olds had come up short on "mix." The group of eight recruited to talk politics at an alumni gathering of Common Grounds, an organization of University of Minnesota grad students in law, public affairs and business, was unintentionally loaded with voters for Barack Obama.
Some tilt that way was to be expected. Nationally, the Illinois senator won a whopping 66 percent of the votes cast by 18- to 29-year-olds. One could argue that the Democrat's share would be larger in Minnesota, where he bested Republican John McCain among all voters with a 10 percent margin, and among the well-educated, who, regardless of age, went for Obama 58-40 percent nationwide.
Still, this slice of the young vote was way too blue.
But wait. There was something worth exploring: "Who did you vote for in the Senate race?"
"Franken ... Coleman ... Coleman ... write-in ... Franken ... Franken ... Barkley ... Barkley."