So why has Sen. Obama, more so than any other Democratic candidate, chosen to put a focus on the young vote?

Over the weekend, Biden and Richardson announced that they do not support the right of Iowa students from out of state to caucus.  Dodd has had four different positions in the span of as many days.  The Clinton campaign seemed to retract her earlier comments and then not so much.

What is so shocking is that so few in the Democratic Party establishment and no one else in the Democratic primary field has weighed in on behalf of the utterly unproblematic, long-held progressive position that students have every right, and should be strongly encouraged, to register to vote.  How hard can this be?

Last week, we saw a fairly astonishing display of doublespeak from Clinton and Dodd on the topic of whether Iowa students originally from out of state have the right to caucus.

Honestly, I thought the Clinton campaign would drop this charge quickly.  Arguing that college students shouldn't be able to register to vote on campus is so obviously wrong.  I've posted a series of diaries on this issue here and here.

Instead, Clinton has now joined in personally, charging that Iowa college students shouldn't be able to register on campus.  We hear the same tired argument that has been used against students before: They don't live here, they don't pay taxes, they shouldn't be able to vote here.

Over the weekend, the Clinton campaign questioned the right of Iowa students to participate in the caucus.  Threatened in the polls, Clinton has given up just attacking her rivals and has decided to launch full-out verbal assaults against key Democratic constituencies.  

The caucus, her campaign representative said, ought to be "for Iowans," not for college students who have lived and studied there for the last four years.

Get it?