James Whitaker has been putting a lot of extra miles on his car in the past few months. He drives from MSU back to his hometown of Waterford more than three times a week.

But it's not because he's homesick. He's running for state representative and has a lot of campaigning to do before November.

"As a candidate, you want to be everywhere and at all the local functions," he said.

Whitaker said he was inspired to run for office after listening to a speech by Howard Dean during the race for the Democratic presidential nomination that emphasized the power of every individual.

"We are getting short-changed by our government," Whitaker said. "Since we have an opportunity to make a change, we should."

The 30-year-old finance and marketing graduate student announced he was running in February. He said the first steps involved contacting supporters, raising money and building an e-mail list.

"Being new to politics is a disadvantage in that name recognition goes a long way," he said. "But being younger, I think people will stop and listen more."

Whitaker said he was surprised with the reactions he received when he started campaigning.

"Men and women that are older are extremely positive," he said. "It's almost like they are saying, 'Thank God, finally a young person who is involved.'"

Whitaker said he wishes every young person would consider running for office and get involved in the political process so the younger generation's issues would get more attention.

"Such a small percent of young people have voted, but that's because politicians didn't do their job and give them a reason to vote," he said.

Campus gets political

Running for office is one way to get involved in politics, but MSU students have been expressing their views through different forms of activism, too.

In the months before the Michigan Democratic caucus, many student groups formed to support the different candidates. Posters began appearing in dorm-room windows in support of Dean or John Kerry, stickers bearing candidate names adorned student cars and some ambitious students went door to door spreading the word about whomever they supported.

Jaclyn Macek, a leader in both MSU College Democrats and Students for Kerry, said she has been involved with elections since the Michigan gubernatorial race in 2002.

"A lot of people think that things don't make a difference," said Macek, a social relations junior. "But things are really local, and I've seen local elections won because of the vote on college campuses."

Macek said the growing participation in politics seems to have a domino effect on the student population.

"There are definitely more people involved in this election," she said. "It's contagious. You see people out there having fun, and then more people want to get involved."

But young Democrats aren't the only ones gearing up for November.

Tim Phelps, co-chairperson of Michigan Students for Bush, said he thinks President Bush is more concerned with young people's issues than Democratic presidential candidate Kerry.

"This is no secret - that's how you win elections. You turn out voters more than they turn out theirs," he said. "As soon as we start turning out, our issues become extremely important."

The political theory and constitutional democracy sophomore said he has been interested in politics his entire life, which led to his activism at MSU.

"I was always interested, but I didn't really become hands-on until I came to MSU," he said. "You are always a spectator until you get involved."

Phelps said political organizations on campus are growing, and college is one of the best places to get involved.

"Each election offers opportunity for a college student to really get some solid experience," he said. "Whether you are a political science major or a nursing major, it's an opportunity to get interpersonal experience that you can't learn in the classroom."

Representatives from Students for Kerry and Students for Bush said the groups plan to continue to spread the word about the candidates across campus and East Lansing until election day, Nov. 2.

The fight for the young vote

For this election, the Republican Party has begun to target the younger generation, working hand in hand with younger voters.

Jeff Stormo, spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party, said many of the Bush re-election efforts have been undertaken by younger party members. He said MSU students have been helping out the party by identifying and registering voters and helping to get the party's message out.

"A lot of what we do in terms of having younger people involved in the party and doing a lot of the grassroots activities puts a younger face on the Republican Party," he said.

The Democratic Party also is putting extra emphasis on the younger crowd.

Jason Moon, spokesman for the Michigan Democratic Party, said the value of younger voters is recognized by the party.

"We specifically target younger people," he said. "We realize there are young people out there that need to be registered, and we want them to know it's important to vote."

MSU history Associate Professor Mark Kornbluh said it's not so much the youths that are increasingly becoming more active as the effort made by the parties to motivate voters.

"It's a question of if the parties think they can get younger people interested," he said. "In the last election, participation was up in those states that the election was competitive, but nationally, overall, it was down."

Michigan is considered a swing state, meaning neither party can rely on the citizens of the state voting with either a Republican or Democratic majority. Some political experts say this is the reason Michigan has received so much attention from candidates this year.

"Participation depends upon where the parties think it is in their advantage to engage students," he said. "Involvement will be up this time in Michigan, but in other nonbattleground states, it will not be."

The power of the young vote

Although younger voters might be becoming more involved in the political movement, some surveys still show that 18- to 24-year-olds have the lowest turnout at the polls.

Ed Sarpolus, an EPIC/MRA pollster, said while college-age voters are becoming more interested in voting, older people are, too.

A recent poll showed voter interest for 18- to 29-year-olds at 82 percent, while those older than 55 are at 95 percent and statewide voter interest is at about 90 percent.

Sarpolus said there are many reasons why the younger generation doesn't vote.

"Parents don't take their youth to the polls when they vote, and parents don't talk to their kids about it when they do vote," he said. "The youth have a basically carefree, nothing-can-hurt-me, I-have-no-responsibility-so-why-do-I-need-to-vote attitude."

Sarpolus said politicians usually don't focus on youth issues because the majority of voters are older than 50 years old. But during this election year, more attention has been given to the youth.

"The current generation of college students tend to be more proactive, like it was in the 1960s," he said. "They are seeing that they can impact things."

Sarpolus said despite the heightened awareness and motivation, it still will take time for the youth to actually show up at the polls.

"They aren't in the habit of it," he said. "There is no visible penalty for not voting, no law against it."

Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of Lansing-based newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, said the group of voters that will perform the worst always will be the 18- to 24-year-olds, but that doesn't mean they can't make or break a candidate. He said if young people make a pattern of collectively backing one candidate, their issues will become more important to politicians.

"The impact the youth have all depends on if they are unified in who they vote for and what the turnout is."