EXACTLY WHAT I'M AFRAID OF

Isaiah Schaffer was at a small party in Spotsylvania County recently when the subject of Americans serving in Iraq came up.

A couple of teenage girls responded by saying they didn't even realize U.S. troops were still over there.

"I was floored," said Lance Cpl. Schaffer, who is not your average 19-year-old making small talk about world affairs.

Cause and effect?

A poll released earlier this year by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 21 percent of people aged 18 to 29 cited "The Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live" as a place where they regularly learned presidential campaign news.

By contrast, 23 percent of the young people mentioned ABC, CBS or NBC's nightly news broadcasts as a source.

Even more startling is the change from just four years ago. When the same question was asked in 2000, Pew found only 9 percent of young people pointing to the comedy shows and 39 percent to the network news shows.