Show Rumor FAQ of Draft Touches Nerve I In a ll a Kathleen Hennessey Los Angeles Times fines An army of new voters received a startling call to serve recently when one of the largest nonpartisan san groups trying to increase voting by young people sent fake draft cards to nearly mail e-mail addresses Youve been drafted was the subject line of the message sent by Rock the Vote The message contained an image of a draft card addressed to the recipient and warned real cards may be in the mail soon if the situation doesn't improve President Bush and Sen John F. F Kerry both have rejected suggestions that they would move to the draft positions they reiterated are their debate Friday night in St. St Louis But by raising the threat of the draft Rock the Vote has ha Ii staked its claim as the edgiest of the multimillion-dollar multimillion campaigns trying to push young people to the polls The effort has also caught the attention of Republicans who said the group misled voters and crossed into partisan poli poli- tics It has the face of a nonpartisan nonpartisan nonpartisan non- non partisan group yet its it's promoting promoting promoting pro pro- the agenda of the liberal liberal liberal lib lib- lib lib- eral left said Alison Aikele spokeswoman for the College Republican National Committee Aikele said has she received complaints from local chapters about draft rumors on campus Rock the Vote political director Hans Reimer said the group was trying to inform its members about the limits ofU of U US U.S. S military forces not persuade persuade persuade per per- suade them to vote for a particular particular particular par par- candidate It would be crazy if young people went to the polls and didn't factor this into their votes however they come comedown comedown comedown down on it Its It's very real said Riemer Were one major military conflict away from the draft I dont don't see why can can- get to talk about war all day long and we cant can't talk about a draft Despite the stated opposition opposition opposition tion by Bush and Kerry to reinstating the draft a recent survey found that only a quarter quarter quarter ter of young people knew this compared with 42 percent of older people About half of 18 to 29 year olds believe that Bush wants to reinstate the draft according the poll conducted by the Annenberg National Election Survey this month Last week House Republicans sought to dispel suggestions that the war in Iraq could lead to a new draft by hastily nastily bringing the idea to toa toa toa a vote and defeating it in a 2 vote But that move is unlikely to end the talk on college cam cam- If there is a draft I would still be eligible said University of Michigan student student student stu stu- stu- stu dent Paul Indyck explaining why hes he's leaning toward Kerry |