Amid gloom, young see vote as act of hope

Getting ready to cast her first vote, 19-year-old Elizabeth Jimenez considers all that's at stake in her choice of president: the tanking economy in which she'll start her career. The dwindling medical benefits that support her bedridden sister. The failed promise of immigration reform to help her Mexican-born father.

"It's so much bigger than myself," said the sophomore at College of the Sequoias, in Visalia, Calif.

Newspaper headlines promise layoffs and record the death toll in wars where Jimenez has friends and a cousin. The pressure of keeping her 10-person household afloat threatens her goal of becoming a doctor. The din in the living room where she sleeps and studies makes it hard to do homework.

But in spite of the deep uncertainty facing those just starting out in life, young, first-time voters interviewed around the country are eager to participate. Yes, times are tough, they say, but casting a ballot is an act of hope, a bet on a better future.

"America's always been the place where dreams come true," says Jimenez, who will become the first in her immigrant family to hang hopes on a ballot. "Our votes can add up, make sure it stays that way."

Halfway across the country, 21-year-old Sahar Meghani is also upbeat and pragmatic despite the country's gloomy outlook.

"You just have to go after your own opportunities. They won't come to you," said the University of Houston finance major, whose dark pantsuit and pearls telegraphed her drive to find a job.

Saying students should "study the candidates just like we study for a test," she notes that soon "we'll be the ones in control of the economy."

The political debut Tuesday for young voters like these comes in an election already marked by historical firsts.

Young voters broke turnout records. They doubled and in some cases tripled their presence in caucuses like Iowa, energized by the heated contest deciding whether, for the first time, a woman or a black candidate became the Democratic nominee. They responded to intensive youth outreach from Republican and Democratic campaigns by volunteering, and used social networks to amplify their own opinions.

In cafes, dorm rooms and at work, they dissected candidates' positions on the economy, the wars, and everything else. In 2008, building on trends in the last two election cycles, the potent mix of personally relevant issues and charismatic candidates could mark the under-25 crowd's breakthrough as political players with clout, experts said.

"We have factors that will likely result in the highest youth vote on record," said John Della Volpe, director of polling at Harvard University's Institute of Politics. Its survey of political attitudes among 18- to 24-year-olds found nearly seven in 10 saw political engagement as an effective way of solving the country's problems.

To Sean Barry, a political science major preparing to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, and start looking for a job come May, sitting on the sidelines was not an option.

"All of us are thinking about jobs after we graduate, what we're going to do about health care," said the 21-year-old, pushing aside the notes he was studying for a midterm exam. "I'm definitely concerned _ about the economy, about the war."

He'll cast his first vote for president for Sen. Barack Obama, but he's already done a lot more. He went to New Hampshire for the primary contest, worked the phones from California to reach voters in states where Obama needed a boost, and drove to Nevada to get out the vote before that state's January caucus.

The drive to be a part of politics has peaked this year among students, Barry said, noting it's not just about voting but "stepping up, volunteering."

Christian Osmena, who is graduating from UC Berkeley in December, noticed students' engagement in everything from the long lines streaming from voter registration booths to political discussions that flared up in unexpected places.

"There's something cool about getting involved this year," said Osmena.

A strong supporter of Sen. John McCain _ his first vote for president was an absentee ballot cast for the Republican candidate _ Osmena still credits Obama's charisma and his campaign's outreach to young voters with fueling much of that drive to participate.

Osmena noted the grass-roots energy around Obama, and acknowledged of his candidate, "It is harder to be hip and to be cool when you're 72."

Like many of his generation, Osmena skips over newspapers and television and gets most of his information about politics online.

"We've done a huge amount of organizing using the Internet, and we've used new technology in ways that really captured young voters' attention," said Kirsten Searer, spokeswoman for Obama.

The candidate's face is ubiquitous on social networking sites like Facebook.com and in YouTube videos. The campaign has relied on text messages to communicate with voters. They stumbled over the initial plan to announce the vice-presidential pick directly to supporters' cell phones and e-mails, but found the short blurbs are an effective way to advertise early voting locations.

Eric Hysen, 19, a Harvard sophomore, developed a Facebook application that provided voters, many of them young, with similar reminders. "It's just a lot easier to get involved in politics," he said. "The stakes are higher than they've been before. This will probably be one of the most important elections of our lifetime, and it's our first."

While Internet tools and texting have made it simple and cheap to reach young voters, what holds their attention is the reality waiting for graduates as soon as they're handed their diplomas _ or already facing young voters who moved straight into the job market.

Nineteen-year-old Daniel Lipps works full time at a restaurant in Portland, Maine. It's not a dream job, but it pays the bills. He's frustrated watching Congress bail out investment banks. "They're just kind of throwing money away," he said.

"I really want to see some changes," said Lipps, who in his first vote is leaning toward Obama.

Emerging from an Army recruiting center in a Raleigh, N.C., strip mall, Lee Watson, 20, wore a broad smile. He'd made his decision and looked forward to taking his oath as a soldier. He's long planned to follow his father into the Army, and even two ongoing wars weren't enough to change his mind.

The economic crisis only reinforced his decision. A KFC restaurant where he'd recently worked in Alabama closed down. On the drive up to North Carolina, Watson was struck by the number of homeless and panhandlers he saw along the road.

"The military is something that'll never go out of business. So I'm never worried about being unemployed now," he said, standing beside a window festooned with posters offering "Great Educational Benefits" and cash bonuses.

Watson cast an absentee ballot for McCain. As a black man, he knows some might expect him to vote for Obama, but he wanted his first vote to go to "someone who's at least served in a military branch."

Having a job already lined up at their family farms didn't completely ease the worries of two first-time Iowa voters who remain undecided, unsure which candidate has the interests of agriculture in mind.

Correy Rahn, an Iowa State University senior, will return to his family's Illinois farm to raise cattle and grow corn, soybeans and alfalfa.

"The main issue I would be concerned about is acquiring financial support at a low interest rate," Rahn said. With credit tight, he may well have to look to older generations for help getting started.

Chet Hollingshead, also an ISU senior, is heading back to his family's 1,500-acre farm in Ogden, Iowa, to raise hogs, cattle, soybeans and corn when he graduates. McCain, he says, didn't make many friends in Iowa with his pledge to cut food prices by eliminating ethanol subsidies and tariffs on imported ethanol.

"Without those important tax credits, the ethanol industry wouldn't have gotten off the ground," Hollingshead said.

Stumbling stock markets, shrinking credit, a monster bailout for the financial sector _ young voters know the outlook is grim as they start careers and families.

But buddies Nathaniel Jones and Alex Hurst, both 20, chatting after class near the intersection of Success Way and Ability Drive at the Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, weren't daunted.

"Obviously, the economy's doing terribly right now," said Jones, who is voting for McCain. "I have several friends who've lost jobs because of it. But I think the only way the economy can go is up right now."

Hurst, who is going for Obama, took the long view.

"Historically, this was bound to happen," he said of the economic crisis. "And, historically, we always work it out. It will work out."

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Contributing to this story were Allen G. Breed in Raleigh, Monica Rhor in Houston, Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine, and Nigel Duara in Iowa City.