With the youth vote skyrocketing, candidates are eagerly seeking connection points with 18-30 year-olds. Social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and others are emerging as the best connection point and proving to be a powerful tool for youth votes in the Presidential elections.

Every front running candidate today has made efforts to engage the social networking crowd—some candidates jumping in faster than others.

Until the beginning of this year, Clinton’s interest in the Facebook vote was minimal. However, when Obama drew 57% of the 18-30 year-old vote in Iowa (compared to her 11%) it sparked her interest. She now proudly answers questions from avid Facebookers on her website and boasts an impressive Facebook page herself.

Almost every candidate now has the Facebook logo easily accessible on their website, linking supporters to their pages. More than 1 million “Facebookers” have added the “US Politics” Application. And just in case anyone is counting Facebook “friends”, the numbers are growing every minute. This Saturday in the span of 7 hours, Obama gained more than 6,000 Facebook supporters (from 454,108 to 460,643, up from 381,179 the night of Super Tuesday). Clinton has 106,949 and Ron Paul, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee follow with 83,558, 53,917, and 51,809 respectively.

Chrissy Faessen from Rock the Vote told WoW, “New technology has absolutely affected and influenced the way youth voters engage politics.” She cited social networking as well as mobile marketing (text message reminders and updates) as two key strategies changing the rules of the game for the 2008 election.

Social networks have now gone beyond support groups and debate pages. Viewers from all over the U.S. tuned in to the MySpace/MTV Presidential dialogue series and ABC/Facebook Presidential debates recently, both boasting live Webcasts and instant feedback from viewers. Faessen asserts that “this new generation is more engaged than ever.”

Heather Smith, Executive Director of Rock the Vote, called Super Tuesday’s youth vote “the most electrifying moment in U.S. election history.”

Regardless of whether or not it was the most electrifying, no one can doubt it was groundbreaking. In almost every state primary the number of voters ages 18-30 doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled compared to the 2000 and 2004 elections.

Tennessee’s primaries brought in 35,000 youth voters in 2000. Nearly 140,000 voted on Tuesday. Georgia saw 92,000 in 2000 tripled to more than 280,000. Massachusetts doubled, Connecticut doubled, and Oklahoma tripled. In Missouri the youth not only tripled their vote (and represented 14% of the total voting population), some assert that they decided the race. Taking 75,000 youth votes for his candidacy, Obama won by a mere 10,000 votes.

The consistency of the youth vote has a sketchy past. The election history books tell us that the hype dies away fast. Will the generation of microwaveable meals and internet shopping stick this one out for the long run? Chrissy Faessen from Rock the Vote told WoW “definitely.” “Young people have turned out and increased their turn out from years past. The momentum is there, the movement is growing, and we see it continuing through the election.” Peter Levine, a research scholar from the University of Maryland argues that especially for Democratic youth, the intrigue of this election will keep them interested. With Clinton and Obama neck and neck, he believes the youth feel their voice is vital.

Charles Dunn of Regent University’s School of Government, however, says that he must “pour salt” on the influence of the youth as this election continues. Looking back, Dunn says the youth have been an inconsistent bloc whose votes should be welcomed by candidates, but not banked on for consistency.

One thing is clear, after Super Tuesday they’ve proven they shouldn’t be ignored.

At New York City’s Union Square on Super Tuesday, Democrats faced off.

On one side, Suzanne Worthington – a woman who went to college before the women’s rights movement swept the 1960s – held a sign for Hillary Clinton. Worthington’s top concern was health insurance since her health insurance bill is $677 per month and will soon go up to $799.

For Worthington, Clinton symbolizes intelligence and action: “She’s a planner. … She’s not just, ‘I hope.’” Worthington said she trusts Clinton to win international debates and listen to international concerns: “I don’t have that confidence in Obama.” She said Clinton has fielded media attacks: “She has bounced back and gone over the hurdles brilliantly. She’s tough. People don’t like tough women.” She saw one difference between Bill and Hillary Clinton: “Man and woman. … In terms of policy, I’m sure they’re right together.”

A few feet away, Neil Hussein, 23, and Will Storie, 21, pounded the pavement for Barack Obama. They had different priorities: the war in Iraq. Storie described the “change” he wanted to see: “Our foreign policy has moved in this direction where the Republicans are aggressive to the point of disaster, and the Democrats have given in. … They think they have to be Republicans to protect this country, and Barack stands up to that.” A New York City resident, Storie said he has no qualms about voting against his own senator: “I’m an American. I’m going to vote for who’s best for America.”

Why do young people care more about Iraq than health care, and why do they support Obama? Storie said, “We’re young enough to still think about things on an abstract level. I think that’s the soul of the Hillary, Obama divide.”

No Republicans stumped in Union Square, although McCain made an early Tuesday morning appearance at the Rockefeller Center. (The New York Times quoted a participant who was surprised at the turnout: “It’s hard to find this many Republicans in Manhattan.”) Worthington wasn’t surprised at the dearth of GOP campaigners: “This is a Democratic race in New York.”

A growing number of young evangelicals may pull Democratic levers in the voting booth this Tuesday. Young, white evangelicals — traditionally Republican-party stalwarts — are increasingly moving away from their conservative allegiances, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of 2001-2007 data.

Wheaton graduate and emergent church minister Mike Clawson is one such evangelical. Once a self-described “Rush Limbaugh-loving Republican/Libertarian, Clawson began to question his political loyalties because of the “lack of compassion” he saw in the conservative leadership’s rhetoric.

“I couldn’t square the ‘pull-yourself-by-your-own-bootstraps’ ideology of the Right with Jesus’s words that whatever we did for the least of these we did for him,” Clawson told WoW. “There are so many important, biblical, concerns that they are simply ignoring - peacemaking, the poor, the environment, fair trade and economic justice, racial reconciliation and gender equality.”

On January 23, a panel of progressive evangelical leaders convened at George Washington University to discuss how Christians are broadening their priorities to include issues like poverty, global warming, and social justice. According to ABP News, Richard Cizik, vice president for government affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, said evangelicals are no longer going to “blindly follow prominent leaders in the Religious Right” who tell them what they “have to believe.”

The conservative evangelical establishment is fighting evangelical departure. Cizik came under fire in March 2007 from a contingent of conservative Christian leaders, including James Dobson, who accused him of “dividing and demoralizing” the Christian base by promoting a “Creation Care” agenda. The group said Cizik’s focus on the environment detracted from the greater moral issues of abortion, same-sex marriage, and abstinence.

According to progressives like Clawson, however, evangelicals don’t have to be single-issue or single-party voters. “We should let our commitment to the kingdom of God be our first and only loyalty,” said Clawson. “And then look for candidates (from whichever party) that will help promote kingdom values.”

Presidential candidates are courting a group that seems to have bounced from political apathy: youth. Young people didn’t just become fans of Obama on Facebook or friend Ron Paul on My Space. They voted, too.

In Iowa, the number of voters under age 30 tripled compared with 2004. Young voters comprised 22% of the total Democratic vote and gave victor Obama 57% of their votes. Young GOP voters were slightly less dedicated, but they still made up 11% of the GOP vote. Mike Huckabee pulled 40% of their vote, twice what closest competitor Ron Paul won.

Hillary Clinton’s supporters were aged in comparison (over a third over age 65), so she scrambled to change her tactics in New Hampshire. Bill Clinton told MTV the Clinton campaign was correcting its mistake of not seeking youth. Hillary Clinton employed daughter Chelsea as a campaign companion, emphasizing change, dreams, and “delivering the kind of possibilities that will give each of you the chance to live out your own hopes.” Obama still got 61% of the voters between the ages of 18 and 24, but didn’t do as well with voters under 40. Clinton eked out a victory, telling MTV News, “”My support among young people will grow.”

John McCain’s straight talk draws young people, too, the New York Times says. Rachel Sklar of the Huffington Post said John McCain may be getting older, but his supporters have stayed the same age. Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John Edwards don’t fare as well with youth.

Ned Ryun, chairman of Madison Youth Project, isn’t surprised that young voters are making a difference this year. Madison Youth Project relies on young campaigners to elect conservative, pro-family, pro-life candidates like Sen. Tom Coburn, Rep. Mike Pence, and Sen. Jim Demint. Ryun told WoW, “Young people are very passionate, very motivated. When they get moving in the right direction it’s hard to stop them.”

Pundits predict that youth enthusiasm is ephemeral. Ryun said getting involved will just increase their motivations: “They walk away and they realize, … not only did I just become involved in the political arena, I made a difference. It motivates, inspires and makes them want to do even more. You give them a taste of success and it builds.”