There’s been a lot of talk about what, if any, impact the youngest voters will have on the upcoming presidential election.

The older members of the Millennials, the generation born generally between the late 1970s and late 1990s, could be the swing voters, particularly in the heated Democratic primaries between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Millennials helped give Obama his wide margin of victory in the Iowa caucus in January, for instance. But younger voters also are the most fickle, and don’t always show up at the polls—even for this highly contested battle.

Political commentator Norman Orstein, who spoke at the National School Board Association’s Federal Relations Network conference this weekend, believes there’s one issue that could -- and should -- bring out this elusive crowd: government spending.

He pointed out that the candidate who ultimately wins will have to deal with a “fiscal headache beyond the migraine stage.” Looming deficits will have a major impact on the economy and are going to affect a lot of budgets, including federal education spending, he told the 300 or so FRN participants.

But ultimately, the Millennials will be the ones to pay the bills.

“Make no mistake about it, there will be tough times,” he said. “And if ever there was a time for young people to vote, it’s now, because they’re the ones who are going to have to deal with all our debt.”

Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor