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Electoral turnout is falling among the young, and political apathy is on the rise.

Low turnout in off-year races is always a challenge for Democrats. Many of our voters require information and must be contacted way ahead of Election Day - and reminded of what's at stake.

Polling in a general election is pretty accurate, because turnout is usually high.

We've got 50 percent voter turnout for presidential elections. That's appalling. We can do so much better.

One lesson is that if you want to predict voter turnout, you should ask whether at least one candidate is attracting high levels of enthusiasm - not whether the stakes are high, or even perceived to be high. That fits the historical pattern.

From the standpoint of democratic legitimacy, it's a problem if half the electorate, or close to it, declines to vote, not least because they may not feel much of a stake in the whole process.

I reject the notion that a high turnout helps Senator Kerry. I think in Florida at least, it's going to help President Bush because we have gotten more registered voters than the Democrats, and our base is just fired up - thanks to your help and a lot of others.

According to the U.S. Census, the most common reason people give for not voting is that they were too busy or had conflicting work or school schedules.

We have just been working hard to have people to come out to vote and to make sure people understand how important the election is.