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I have voted in every election since I have been eligible; and I don't think that voters are apathetic. I think they are defeated. I have not lived in an America that didn't have a Bush or a Clinton in the white house in some capacity (Bush part I was V.P. in 1981 when I was born). I have not voted in a presidential election where I didn't feel as though I were voting for "the lesser of two evils". This "lesser of two evils" idea can be quite defeating and may very well lead to what has been perceived as "apathy". I am fiscally conservative, socially liberal, and moderate on a host of a lot of other issues. I have yet to find a candidate that represents me well in the senate, house or executive. I'm not the only one; most people can not identify with the far right or "base" of the republican party nor with the far left or "hippie" wing of the democratic party. And yet, these are the people, these people far to the left and far to the right, who get the voice in the media, because they are the loudest and because as Dennis Miller put it, Moderates have better things to do! We as moderates, have seen that there have been disgusting displays of fear mongering (example: the Bin Laden image in the Hillary Clinton advertisement likening that if Obama were elected Bin Laden would win; Swift Boaters against John Kerry, the 3 a.m. Hillary Clinton advertisement implying that if Obama is elected your children will not be safe, etc.), false implications (the NY times reporting an illicit affair with John McCain and a female lobbyist, the Karl Rove machine making calls in SC asking what people thought if John McCain had an illegitimate black child, who ever keeps making e-mails up about Barack Obama being a Muslim), words of one candidate taken completely out of context to support the other candidates platform (there are MANY MANY examples of this!), and of course condescension by most candidates. Things like this make most moderate and intelligent folks feel a little unnerved about going to the voting booth, as can be understood! They are disgusted and defeated and not represented; we the silent majority. Now as to the answer to the original query; Ideas for combating voter apathy include nominating worthwhile candidates! As soon as we do that, apathy as you call it will disappear...

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