Janet Bagnall
Montreal Gazette

For years now -- seven, to be exact -- Canadians have been able to take mean-minded comfort in knowing that no matter how bad our own political options seemed, Americans had it worse. It was, granted, Americans' choice to vote George W. Bush in as president, twice, but you had to feel for a country run by a man whose legacy will be tax cuts for the rich.

But Canadians can feel smug no more. Real change is in the air in the U.S. Voters are turning out in record numbers to cast their ballots in presidential primaries, mainly Democratic.

The Democratic primaries have come down to a contest between two people who both represent historic change. Barack Obama in the White House might not mean the U.S. has transcended its racist past, but the message to black and white Americans alike is clear: Racism can be overcome.

Hillary Clinton, the first woman to mount a serious campaign for a U.S. presidential nomination, is having the same energizing effect on voters as Obama.

Traditionally under-represented blocs of voters like single women have emerged in record-breaking numbers. Even if these women don't actually vote for Clinton, researchers say her presence as a genuine contender has galvanized women of all political beliefs.

Up here in Canada, meanwhile, we are awash in voter disconnect: Voter turnout, especially among women and young people, has declined. After years of inching slightly upward, there was a drop in the number of female members of Parliament after the last federal election, a trend that shows no sign of changing anywhere in the country.

As Alberta heads for the polls March 3, women account for less than 30 per cent of candidates of the three main parties. Visible minorities and immigrants have made tiny inroads into political life, despite making up an ever-larger proportion of the Canadian population.

People don't vote if they feel an election won't affect them or if there's no candidate who engages their interest, research shows. Before the U.S. 2008 primary season started in earnest in January, political commentators in the U.S. worried that American voters had become so disengaged that democracy itself was at risk. They blamed the voters, criticizing their lack of interest and knowledge.

Yet the Democratic primaries, with their history-making choice, have attracted unprecedented levels of voter participation. Low voter turnout could have, in fact, more to do with being faced with a George W. Bush or Stephen Harper than with genuine disaffection with the political process.

Page Gardner, founder of Women's Voices, Women Vote, a U.S. group working to increase voter turnout among unmarried women, has been quoted as saying that although single women historically have been the largest group of non-voters in the U.S., this year they have turned out in record numbers. In Nevada, women accounted for almost 60 per cent of Democratic voters.

Obama's candidacy is also fuelling record-breaking participation in the primaries, according to the Wall Street Journal. In South Carolina, there was an 81 per cent increase in voter turnout over the 2004 primary. Among black voters in South Carolina, the increase was 113 per cent, and in Georgia, it was 90 per cent. Merle Black of Emory University said, "If Obama is the nominee, he'll draw the largest turnout among African-Americans that we've ever seen in American history."

Young American voters have also turned out in unusually high numbers. Four years ago, reports show, under-30s accounted for only eight per cent of the Democratic primary electorate in Maryland and Virginia. This year, they made up 14 per cent in both states. Most of these young voters backed Obama, younger at 46 than Clinton, who is 60.

Young people in Canada, meanwhile, steadily shrink from political involvement. Only 27.5 per cent of young people eligible to vote for the first time in 1997, voted. That low level was eclipsed by the group that followed: Just 22.4 per cent of young Canadians who were first eligible to vote in 2000 took the trouble to cast a ballot.

What the U.S.can teach us -- if we're not too smug to listen -- is that political renewal is not only possible but absolutely necessary.

jbagnall@thegazette.canwest.com