Giuliani, Clinton, McCain, Obama, Romney, Edwards and Richardson - just to name a few. Though the 2008 presidential election is nearly two years away, an initial surplus of candidates already has thrown activists, pundits and politicians into campaign mode earlier than usual.
But they aren't the only players in the game. As the Internet gains power as a political organizational and fundraising school, some candidates are putting a greater focus on college-age voters.
According to assistant political science professor Deborah Schildkraut, students have gained power as a demographic.
"There's a lot of energy around young voters that I think was absent in the '80s and '90s," Schildkraut said. "Young voters are very Internet-savvy, so it makes it easier for them to get involved and to learn about the candidates."
"Also, it makes it easier for candidates to fundraise," she added.
Schildkraut cited the campaign Web site for Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), a candidate who political science professor Jeff Berry described as having "a rock star-like reputation on college campuses." One feature of Obama's site allows users to create individual profiles reminiscent of other social networking sites such as Myspace.com and Facebook.com.
"Before, someone had to ask you for money and you had to write a big check," she said. "Now you can log on and easily donate $10 or however much you can contribute. It makes it easier for candidates to get in touch with young voters."
According to Berry, Obama has focused a large part of his campaign on college students, and some other candidates are following suit.
"I think there's a lot of young voters that find [Obama] inspirational, and he's closer to their age, so they may relate more to his persona. But [Senator Hillary] Clinton [D-NY] certainly has her following - she should have a good turnout from young volunteers," he said.
Berry said that although many college-aged students tend to be more liberal, Republican candidates are also looking at college students as potential voters with a newfound importance.
"It's not quite as visible on the Republican side, but there are lots of young Republicans who work for their candidates and do what they can to help," Berry said.
At Tufts, a number of students are using Facebook.com to help organize their fellow Jumbos in support of various candidates.
Senior Jake Berliner created the group "Students for Richardson," in support of Democratic New Mexico Governor and Tufts graduate Bill Richardson (A '70, F '71), which had 59 members at press time.
"The main thing is that Tufts is [Richardson's] turf; this is where he's from," Berliner said. "I'm using the Facebook group as a way to organize students who are interested in getting involved. We've brought students up to New Hampshire to help campaign, and we'll continue to do so as Governor Richardson travels there more."
But Tufts' largest Facebook.com group in support of a candidate is "Tufts Students for Obama," which had 121 members at press time, and the group's creators are looking to translate students' online interest into the real world.
"We're so close to [site of the upcoming presidential primary] New Hampshire, so it's easy for us to get involved and make a difference in the campaign," said senior Dan Grant, the group's creator. "We're trying to centralize the opportunity to make it easier for students to get involved in the campaign."
Grant said his plans for the group - now a budding organization - include organizing students to help Obama's campaign with phone calls, door-to-door canvassing and fundraising.
"We're in touch with [Obama's] New Hampshire campaign staff, and we're having our first meeting in a couple of weeks" Grant said. "As much maligned as Facebook is, it's actually a great organizational tool. It's just a way to spread support really easily."
Grant's group mirrors a national trend. A Feb. 17 article in The Washington Post titled "Young Voters Find Voice on Facebook" described how Farouk Olu Aregbe, a Facebook.com user who advises student government at the University of Missouri at Columbia, began a Facebook.com group called "Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)," with the goal of gaining a million members from the Facebook.com community. The group has grown exponentially since then. At press time it had over 303,000 members.
According to Schildkraut, Obama's approach of attracting younger voters with the help of the Internet could become a staple in future presidential campaigns - but only if it's successful.
"If the strategy works, other candidates will pick up on it," she said.
But Berry said candidates - and students - shouldn't jump to premature conclusions.
"We don't know yet, is the answer," Berry said. "A lot of links on Facebook doesn't mean the people who click on them will actually get out to vote. Last election, there was lots of talk about how [2004 Democratic presidential candidate ] Howard Dean was revolutionizing politics through the Internet ... His campaign collapsed in the first primary."
According to Berry, there are many reasons that younger people tend not to vote and that as a result, candidates tend to ignore them.
"[Candidates] hope that some young people will vote, but the truth is young voters are the least likely to go to the polls," he said. "College students are not sure where they live - should they vote here or at home? Many of them don't know ... They have no track record in voting - no experience, so some are confused."
"What's more, they're often not asked, because they're hard to reach," he added. "It's hard to go door-to-door with college students. That doesn't mean that [candidates] give up on them, but there's a significant difference in the number of young people who vote and middle-aged or older voters."
Schildkraut agreed. "Political participation is a cycle - the more you participate, the more candidates want to reach out to you," she said. "A group that doesn't participate tends to be ignored, but a group that is ignored tends not to participate. I think that's a classic challenge that potential young voters face."
Berry said that, while college students may have an increased level of importance to politicians in 2008 due to the Internet, the change may not be as substantial - or as tangible - as they hope. "You know what the most effective method is?" Berry said. "Old-fashioned door-to-door and calling people on the phone. The old political machines in big cities knew something about getting people to the polls, and that hasn't changed."
