newsminer.com

In campaign interviews in 2006 with the News-Miner during the governor’s race, we asked all of the candidates about how they would attract young people to the political process.

In her response, Republican Sarah Palin said she saw a need to change the tone of politics in Alaska.

“A lot of young people are apathetic. A lot of people are apathetic about campaigns because you see a lot of the garbage that goes on in campaigns and the personal attacks and the character assassinations that are so unnecessary. They’re useless, they detract from the issues,” Palin said.

“Young people, I believe, they get turned off by that. And they think, ‘You know, I have better things to do than waste my time on this.’ And that’s a shame. I’d like to set a different tone there in terms of politics in this state, in terms of campaigning. And that’s why too, I’m not gonna go negative, I’m not gonna go throwing mud at any other candidate. And we will, we’ll stick with the issues.

“I would hope that that leads to, at some point, more of an atmosphere, of welcoming young people into the process here, so that their voice can be heard also.”