Presidential Idol

by Ekua Boateng // Published May 22, 2008
Some young people may be able to avoid getting drawn into the exciting and fascinating presidential election cycle that is upon us (from an outsider looking in). But would they fail to notice that the American Idol contest has drawn to a close after the final contenders both named David battled it out for viewer votes. David Cook was victorious, which may or may not be to his advantage!

Just as the American Idol contenders have battled it out for the hope of winning the grand prize, the Democratic Party is still in the midst of its battle to choose its presidential nominee between Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama. Both of whom are battling hard for votes, and fans of all ages in order to secure the nomination of the party and to enable them to fight for the ultimate prize, the presidency. The series finale ended with lower viewer ratings than in 2006, though this time around 97 million votes cast. That's a staggering amount of votes!

Now imagine if we could harness the power of American Idol and get citizens of voting age to be that engaged and excited about voting in elections. Imagine what turnout would be like then? If we think that we have seen extraordinary things so far in this primary season on all sides of the political spectrum. What would we describe such a phenomenon as in this context? Perhaps colossal, gigantic or even astonishing! So lets try and harness that excitement, energy and passion towards something that truly matters, electing the next president of the United States.