NEW YORK (AFP) — The battle for the Democratic nomination in the US presidential election is as much about "Generation X" wresting power from Baby Boomers as it is a battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, according to analysts.
While the campaign for the Republican nomination is mostly seen as an open contest, the Democrat race is increasingly shaping up as a duel between Clinton, a 60-year-old former first lady, and Obama, a 46-year-old senator.
Most significantly, analysts say, it is the first time someone from the so-called Generation X has run for the White House.
"Generation X is used primarily to identify Americans born between 1961 and 1977," explained Jeff Gordinier, editor of the US magazine Details.
"So I think it's people born from the beginning of the 60s all the way to the premiere of 'Star Wars' and the explosion of punk rock in 1977," he said.
Generation X-ers, he said, usually identify themselves as pragmatic, progressive and sharing common values. Aged between 30 and 47, they tend to be the children of baby boomers such as Clinton.
Obama will rely largely on Generation X voters if he is to be successful, and has already won over those under 30 -- the Y generation or "Millennials," analysts say.
They point to the fact that the freshman senator from Illinois raises the issue of generation more often than he does race.
"Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more and it is time for our generation to answer that call," Obama said when announcing his candidacy last February.
John Della Volpe, director of polling for the institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, said Obama's struggle for votes was without doubt mostly a generational one.
"The further past 40 you get, the more likely you are to support Hillary Clinton," he told AFP. "Hillary's approach to solving problems -- economy and health care -- resonates with older voters struggling to do well."
"Barack's base of support unquestionably lies with 'Millennials'... they are providing the energy, the fuel and much of the spirit for his campaign," he said.
"They consider the genocide in Darfur to be the third biggest foreign policy challenge facing us -- after Iraq and terrorism. The political expectations and agenda of this generation is very much in line with Obama's," he said.
"Our presidential election this time around is unique... mainly because the younger generations -- Generations X and Y -- can outvote all older generations combined," said Ann Fishman, head of a US agency specializing in US trends.
Gordinier, whose book "X Saves the World" comes out in March, said that "Gen X-ers are reluctant at first to rally around any candidate but at the same time there is something about Barack Obama that does link to Generation X values.
"He attended an anti-apartheid rally in Southern California. He writes about his doubts about the effectiveness of that form of protest... He is very honest about his skepticism. That is the Gen X sensibility," he said.
Elizabeth Blackney, 35, a writer and Republican from Oregon in the northwest, said she was increasingly leaning towards Obama.
In her Internet blogs she makes no secret of her contempt for an older generation she says has passed on an insecure world and abandoned its ideals to cling on to power.
"Our time to lead has come," she wrote in one posting.
"Clinton's fundamental misunderstanding is this: Gen X voters are not going to carry the baggage of Boomers going forward. We are grateful for our freedom but time marches on," she added.
"There are real challenges in the 21st Century. Problems created by the willful neglect and malignant narcissism of Baby Boomers. They allowed genocide after genocide to occur. Rwanda, Darfur. We gave the world YouTube and Google."
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