The battle for Super Tuesday is in full swing at UNM, and students are playing a major role in the fight for New Mexico's Democratic caucus.
The UNM College Democrats won't endorse a candidate, but they're still trying to encourage people to vote today, said Lee Drake, regional director of the organization.
Drake said young people will be the deciding factor in who gets the Democratic nomination and who is elected president.
"If they come out in strong numbers, that is what's going to determine everything," Drake said. "The youth will determine if Democrats or Republicans win, hands down."
The College Democrats are calling young voters' cell phones to drum up votes, Drake said.
He said most election campaigns make calls only to home phones, which many young people don't have.
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"We're a highly mobile generation," he said. "It would use cell phones and text messaging so that people can know where their precinct is. On election day, you would get a quick text message reminding you to vote and telling you where to go."
Students campaigning for change
Outside of the College Democrats, many students have spent hours campaigning for a candidate.
Student Shauna Sulima said she wasn't sure who she would vote for until the Democratic frontrunners came to New Mexico last week.
"After hearing President Clinton speak at UNM on Thursday, it persuaded me," Sulima said. "I was for Obama for a while - now I'm all for Hillary."
She said Clinton's speech inspired her so much that she decided to volunteer her time making phone calls for Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign.
She also helped out at Clinton's event at Highland High School on Saturday.
"When it comes down to it, I think Hillary's the only one who can fix our country, because it's so messed up," Sulima said. "Also, she has Bill's guidance to help her, and everything was much better when he was president."
Student Dustin Taylor, a Navy veteran, founded a chartered student group called New Mexico Students for Barack Obama.
He said Obama's campaign needs grassroots support because Clinton has stronger backing from the Democratic Party, and having a chartered group will help get funding from UNM if Obama gets the nomination.
Taylor's group has about five other members, two of whom are Republicans, he said.
"Barack Obama is creating a lot of interest in politics again, which is really refreshing," Taylor said. "It's really cool to see someone who has made politics attractive again and much less of a dirty word. He's creating a lot of interest with new voters."
Taylor said much of his work has been registering people to vote.
He said has registered about 150 people on campus in the last week.
He has also gone door-to-door campaigning for Obama and distributed stickers, pins and signs, he said.
A party divided
Taylor said it's easy to find differences between Obama and Clinton.
He said Obama has the judgment to make the right decisions on foreign policy, despite not having much experience in national politics.
"Being in the military, I got kind of caught up in the rhetoric for the Iraq War," he said. "When you go back and you look, (Obama) had the judgment to speak out against it. Hillary, being a federal senator at the time, had access to a lot of information that he didn't, and she still voted to give the president a mandate to go to war."
Student Stephanie Yurchyk, a graduate student in earth and planetary sciences, said Clinton is a better candidate because of her experience and environmental policy.
"For me, I really just want to get as many people out to vote for a Democratic candidate," she said. "As a scientist, I study climate change, and I think (Clinton) has a really great approach to making our country not dependent on foreign oil."
Yurchyk said she has supported Clinton's candidacy since she first announced it and has volunteered for the past several weeks.
She said she has worked at a table on campus where she has seen wavering support from students for Clinton as many young people are undecided.
Much of Yurchyk's work for the campaign has been helping elderly people fill out absentee-ballot requests, and she also volunteered her time at Clinton's speech Saturday, she said.
Student Gillian Joyce has been volunteering for New Mexico Students for Barack Obama.
She said she has spent most of her free time over the last few weeks working at a table for Obama on campus, where she has registered people to vote, discussed Obama's policies and handed out campaign material.
"I think (Obama) is the most mature, diplomatic and charismatic politician of my lifetime," Joyce said. "He's the one candidate in this race that has the skill to unite our divided country and the capacity to navigate the horrible international situation we're stuck in right now."
Drake said the Democratic nominee will probably be decided after polls close today, but campaigning in New Mexico won't slow down.
"Albuquerque and New Mexico are incredibly critical in the U.S. election," he said. "After Super Tuesday is over, we'll know who's going to be the Democratic nominee, and we're going to work with whatever group is on the side of the winner and whatever group is on the side of the loser to make sure everybody stays involved."
