When Elizabeth Dole dropped out of the Republican primary, her entire youth organization, with a couple of thousand volunteers, immediately switched to McCain and not the party front-runner, George W. Bush. Students from Harvard University, which some conservatives consider the belly of the liberal beast, have signed onto his campaign. And then there are those like Miller, who crawled out of bed on a biting cold morning during his college break to talk about issues. They think he's genuine. They think he's a hero, at a time when there are few, for surviving five years as a Vietnam prisoner of war.
Most politicians are more practical than emotional.
Turnout in 1998 elections among this group was estimated at less than 20 percent, a record low. To understand why this generation of young voters does not participate at the polling place is to understand why McCain is catching on. A graduate school study at the University of California at Los Angeles last year found that only 25 percent of incoming students believe keeping up with politics is important. The study also showed that volunteerism was becoming popular with freshmen because they see that results and change are more likely that way. McCain's platform of ''getting big money out of politics'' and ''restoring integrity to the White House'' seems to be written with them in mind.