Hey Gen O voters! Not bad, not bad at all...

I like this Generation O -- "O" as in Obama. I have to admit I'm a bit biased. Chris and I spawned one of its members -- 23-year-old Kevin in Tucson. Good job Kevin! We have another offspring, a 15-year-old pre-Gen O who will be 19 in 2012 and vows to vote for O for his second term.

I talked to Kev a few nights after the election and he was at a friend's house playing X-Box or Wii or one of those many games in which I'm all thumbs. Actually, that's probably a good thing. In Wii, don't you use your thumbs a lot? I'll text Kevin later and ask. Anyway, I was talking to Kev and he was with five of his friends. I asked him how many voted and he said at least half of them did, although one guy was too busy gaming to answer. So let's say 50 percent of these Gen O voters in a cramped Tucson apartment voted and they all voted for O. Not bad. Not bad at all. But -- if all of you had voted, McCain would have lost his home state.

Here are some facts from today's article about Gen O voters in the New York Times Style section.

Mr. Obama’s victory was greatly helped by his young allies. More 18- to 29-year-olds went to the polls this year than in any election since 1972 — between 21.6 million and 23.9 million, up from about 19.4 million in 2004, according to preliminary estimates from the Center for Information and Research of Civic Learning and Engagement. And 66 percent voted for Mr. Obama, according to exit polls by Edison & Mitofsky.

These young voters and those slightly older, who together may forever be known as Generation O, were the ground troops of the campaign. They opened hundreds of Obama offices in remote areas, registered voters and persuaded older relatives to take a chance on the man with the middle name Hussein.

As you can see in the NYT photo, Gen O voters don't all look the same. But two-thirds of them had the same goal, to elect a young guy with great ideas to the highest office in the land. Almost all of the Obama organizers I met were in their 20s and 30s. They came from all over the country and were very focused on the prize. They earned this victory.

Congrats to Kevin and his pals. Keep voting, stay involved, and please finish school sometime soon.

Here's a snap of Kevin taken when he visited us in red-state Wyoming in March....