College Main Street 2.0, you don't have to look far in Ohio State University's campus to see signs: students are worried about the economy. 3rd year student Kieran Johnson is worried about what kind of job market he'll face.
'Graduate, hoping I can get something better. I mean, that's what we're all told, to go to school, and you know, have a better life afterwards. At, at the point right now, we don't really know that's true, so."
For Amanda Kulcar, the concerns are more immediate, like the price of gasoline. "Even groceries are increasing, it’s harder even get essentials like bread and milk has increase, so point that, it's almost ridiculous to buy."
"They're scared, and they’re scared maybe for the first times in their lives. This has been a several decade period of unusual prosperity."
Political science professor Paul Beck says while these young voters maybe scared, they're also enthusiastic about this presidential election.
Seizing on that enthusiasm, volunteers saturated the campus to get students to register and vote early. And to see how coveted the youth vote is. Consider that just a stone’s thrown from the nation's largest university of nearly 53,000 students is an Obama campaign office.
Team Obama is offering students rights to polling places.
Bruce Springsteen even performed at OSU on Sunday, to try and drive turnout. "We were also here four years ago, this time we'll win."
In 2004, democrat John Kerry lost Ohio to Gorge Bush by a slim margin. Students for Obama say they believe they'll make a difference for democrats in this battle-ground state. On the Republican side, no McCain office on campus, just a couple of tables set up. But College Republicans here say, Sarah Palin is little fire for them.
"Any time you watch anything, it's all about, you know, Obama and the youth voter, how it’s getting on, you know, lock down, and this is not the case, simply not the case."
Volunteers spanned out across Ohio State’s campus, leading up to Monday's deadline to register to vote. For the first time, people in Ohio have been able to register and vote on the same day. And campaigns are hoping that early voting will help secure votes from young people who in the past have been known to be eager to register, but haven't always been reliable in showing-up on election day.
Marry Snow CNN, Columbus, Ohio.