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There is one woman who perhaps best predicted Barack Obama's success at the Iowa polls this week, and it ain't Oprah.
Obama Girl, the actress who sang a tune called I've got a crush on Obama in a hugely popular viral video, was a scantily clad, gyrating symbol of the connection the young senator has made with American youth, an appeal that helped propel him to victory on Thursday with the help of the under-30 electorate.
According to a breakdown of the Iowa vote by MSNBC, Mr. Obama won 57 per cent of the 17-29 age group, compared with 11 per cent for Hillary Clinton and 14 per cent for John Edwards. In the 30-44 age group, he took 42 per cent.
David King, a political science professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, said the turnout of young voters has "changed the calculus" of presidential primaries.
"If he carries this momentum forward, then this will be a watershed election, a generational change," he said. "It'll be a 1960 repudiation of the establishment and the embracing of another young senator."
Whether or not Mr. Obama will follow these JFK allusions all the way to the White House, there is little doubt that the skinny kid with the funny name appeals to young people like few politicians.
"The entrance polls on the Democratic side say there were more young voters under 30 than there were 65 and older, and even that dramatically underestimates the number of young voters that were there," Prof. King said. "I think the bottom line is 'wow.' " But by far the biggest tribute to the importance of Mr. Obama's achievement was made by Ms. Clinton herself, who yesterday suddenly declared herself as the candidate young people should embrace.
"I'm running for president to reclaim the future — the future for all of us, of all ages," she said. "But particularly for young Americans."
