When the 2008 presidential campaign began in 2007, the impact of young voters was a great unknown -- much like now President-elect Barack Obama. In elections past, young voters were seen as a potential force -- but the group's influence at the polls rarely ever met expectations. The sleeping giant awoke in 2008 -- roused by an aggressive registration effort by the Obama campaign, inspired by a chance at making history and fueled by a world view that saw the U.S. economy in tatters and American interests entangled across the globe.

Young voters played a major role in selecting the nation's 44th president. They turned out to vote in numbers unseen in more than a generation. They helped turn red states blue (North Carolina, Indiana) and light-blue states dark blue. They traveled on weekends and over breaks to knock on doors in swing states like Nevada, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Colorado and New Hampshire -- providing ground troops for both campaigns. They latched on to historic campaigns and helped push Obama to the Democratic nomination. They friended politicians on Facebook and signed up for text messages -- forever altering the communication dynamic between the candidate and the public. And, through this site and others, they reported on this election, the candidates and the issues that mattered most to young people.

As we said in our first post, UWIRE and its contributors set out to cover not only the Who, What, Where, When and How of the Youth Vote -- but also the Why and the Will. Our focus on UWIRE.com shifts to What Now?

After marshaling thousands of young people across the nation to his election cause, and winning the youth vote by a commanding margin, how does Barack Obama maintain that momentum with young voters? What programs and initiatives will the administration propose and enact to the benefit of young people? And, if the change proposed doesn't come, will this bloc turn against Obama or away from politics altogether? Can the Democrats keep this generation of first-time voters as a reliable voting bloc or will the Blue Wave spawned in part by young voters peter out by 2010 or 2012?

These are the questions that we'll continue to explore on UWIRE.com in the coming months and years. Stay tuned ...

Cheers, UWIRE

Young people feel a lot of ownership in the Barack Obama presidency. There's a general sense that Obama is our generation's president; that he thinks and operates in a way we can understand. 

We know the country needs leadership now more than ever, and after getting to know him on the campaign trail we decided that Obama could be that leader. And so we turned out for him. In large numbers.

To us, Obama's presidency represents the chance to make a clean break with how our country has been run up to this point in our lives. We occasionally joke about his messianic stature, but we are, in truth, expecting a lot. Our generation has grown up under the Bush Administration, and craves some leadership we can believe in.

By Betsy Morais, Youth Vote '08 correspondent

The streets came alive that night. When news channels flashed "Obama" on the screen, the president-elect's alma mater--Columbia--went into a frenzy. Students gushed from their dorms and out onto College Walk, pouring into Broadway, and charging up towards 125th Street--where they joined with Harlem locals to revel in jubilation.

"It was remarkable. It was remarkable, and I don't think I'll ever see anything like it ever again," said Columbia senior Jared Walker, the New York State Coordinator for Students for Obama.

But then, the next morning came.

"It's a little weird," he said. "I kind of wake up and I don't have anything to do. I mean, I've always been a political junkie so I'm still reading all that there is to read about everything going on in Washington. But it's a little odd to actually not have that much to do."

As the president-elect goes through his transition period, the students who dedicated themselves to the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain are going through transitions of their own.

After volunteering on her campus since last spring, University of Wisconsin-Madison Students for McCain co-chair Allison Nelson said that--though it's bittersweet--"it's kind of a relief" that the election has come and gone.

"It was really sort of like a cascading of stress over my entire life up until the election, where it all climaxed," she said. "So right now, we're just kind of relaxing."

In 40 years, I will be annoying my grandchildren with stories about Election 2008. But will I be using the story to explain why I've been voting Democrat my entire life?

Maybe.   

Studies have shown partisan politics are decided early in our voting lives.

But I voted for George W. Bush in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008, so I guess the verdict is still out for me -- and for other young voters who did the same thing.

Sixty-six percent of 18-29-year-old voters voted for President-elect Obama. That is 25 percent more than voted for Kerry in 2004. Some say the youth's support for Obama made up all 6 points of Obama's popular vote percentage over John McCain.

The youth is responsible for Obama's historic win.

But can the Democrats keep the youth vote that was instrumental in getting them back into the White House?

By Emily Schultheis, Youth Vote '08 correspondent

President-elect Barack Obama's victory was accompanied by other Democratic victories in Pennsylvania, but the Republicans had several key victories as well.

"Everything hasn't gone Democratic," said St. Joseph's University history professor and political analyst Randall. "It's not a sea of blue here."

That said, Pennsylvania Democratic candidates did fare well in last week's election. In statewide elections, current Auditor General Jack Wagner was re-elected, and another Democrat, Robert McCord, was elected to the position of State Treasurer.  

In the Philadelphia area, Democratic congressional candidates won handily. Joe Sestak, a Democratic Congressman from the state's 7th district, was re-elected by a 20-point margin.

Democratic Reps. Chaka Fattah, Bob Brady and Allyson Schwartz, who represent other districts in Philadelphia and its suburbs, also were easily re-elected.

Chicago -- I was at Grant Park last Tuesday for Barack Obama's election night party.  It was surreal - the speech, the election, the strangers bunched so tight against me that we may be married.  If I had to use a single word, that word would be "historic," because you can put "historic" before any noun and make it sound more important than it is, such as "historic bird vomit."

Beginning at the historic hour of 3:30 p.m., around 30,000 lucky ticket holders and our plus-ones filed in two by two, cameras around their necks and buttons on their lapels.  It was a lot like Noah's ark, if instead of animals God commanded Noah to save political science geeks.  Another field at the park held the overflow crowd, tens of thousands more people who couldn't get tickets but wanted to one day tell their grandchildren they paid $20 for a Barack Obama T-shirt at one of several official merchandise stands.

By 6:10 p.m. we had been released from a second waiting area to a third, and beyond that to a bank of metal detectors where our personal belongings were inspected by a staff of highly competent and attentive Secret Service agents.  Ha ha, no, our possessions were actually inspected by TSA agents, meaning an occasional weapon could have made its way through but there would be absolutely no toenail clippers endangering Obama's life.

By Rachael Dickson, Youth Vote '08 correspondent

In the aftermath of the election, young Republicans grappling with the results are looking at not only why Sen. Barack Obama won over Sen. John McCain, but what the party needs to do in future elections.

"The results were disheartening and I'm sorry to see Virginia go blue for the first time since 1964," David Skiles, 21, the political director of the Fairfax County Republican committee said. "But we were fighting a massive operation - I have to give credit to Senator Obama. The amount of money he threw at us - he was able to keep us on our defenses."

Skiles personally thought that Obama's grassroots approach to the campaign won him the election.

"It wasn't necessarily that Obama was outperforming McCain, it was that he had more people out there at the metro stops and the farmer's markets," Skiles said. "Psychologically, that sent a message."

With some college students updating their Facebook status several times a day, it was not surprising to see a lot of election-related status updates in the days following Barack Obama's historic win last Tuesday. And according to the Daily Kansan, not all of the updates were positive.

KU College Republicans president Jesse Vaughn said Facebook was a way to express his frustration.

"It's hard to deal with it when you have such a crushing defeat," Vaughn said. "Facebook has become a way for me and others to put your beliefs out there."

Among the updates reported by the Kansan,

...Is thinking that even Bush would be better than Obama

...America made a big, big mistake

... is Rock Chalk Barack!

Allison Yang talks to students at Barnard College about women's role in politics after two female candidates lose their bids to serve in the executive branch.

Now that the 2008 election is over, President George W. Bush gets to do the cool things all lame duck presidents get to do, such as pardoning whoever he wants. Washington insiders expect him to pardon I. "Scooter" Lewis "Moped" Libby, who was involved in the Valerie Plame leak, and Darth Vader, who tried to quell the rebel uprising but is basically a good guy.

But Bush also gets to begin working on his legacy. This will be tough work. He will have to get up every day -- sometimes as early as noon -- and head to his basement. "Don't come down here, I'm working on my legacy," he will say, though to the layperson it will sound like he is just watching "Dr. Phil" and eating Fruity Pebbles.

Naturally he will want to build a presidential library, where he can build a private reading room consisting of 4,000 pounds of Bazooka Joe comics. If he doesn't know how to build it, Dick Cheney can advise him on who should get a no-bid contract.