"I want to hear from young voters about their concerns and encourage them to participate in this incredible process," Clinton said in a statement.
The Obama campaign has organizations on 600 college campuses, and its student arm was launched on the Facebook Web site, said spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
"We knew we didn't want students just to be props or people waving signs at rallies," she said.
As campaigns seek support from young voters, they must address a variety of issues, not a single theme, interviews show.
"There has been focus on Iraq in terms of the media, but the environment and energy, to our generation, that's the big problem we see," said Gray Chynoweth, 29, a technology lawyer and former head of New Hampshire Young Democrats. "Our generation sees global environmental damage that has happened over the past decades that is going to be our challenge to fix."
For Allison Goldsberry, 26, a freelance Web designer from Massachusetts, "health care is definitely a big one, and the economy. Those are the two big things for young people."
An undecided voter, Goldsberry attended Democratic and Republican campaign events last week with her friend, Alexander Svirsky, 33, an engineer.
"I've been laid off, he's been laid off," she said. "We know what it's like to lose your health insurance and your job, and then kind of have to pick up the pieces and put them back together again."
Goldsberry said she's not sure that young voters will be pivotal in the election.
"A lot of young people are moving around. They go to school maybe in a different state, maybe move someplace else, so I don't think they keep up to date with being registered," she said.
Still, Obama drew thousands of young people to campaign appearances last week, sending many to overflow rooms when the gymnasiums and theaters grew too crowded. His message of bridging partisan divides and refusing to fight old battles seems to be resonating. At 46, he is the youngest contender of either party, and his mixed-race heritage and fast rise from a Chicago community organizer to the U.S. Senate offering a compelling narrative.
Tarah Guttman, 27, a physical therapy student from Nashua, likes Obama's pledge to increase teacher pay.
Guttman is leaning toward voting for Clinton, but harbors doubts about siding with the wife of a two-term president, following two terms of the son of another president. "You feel like maybe it's being controlled by two main families," Guttman said.
