Obama rallies young voters

AMES, Iowa -- President Barack Obama, appealing to students who powered his first White House run, swooped onto college campuses yesterday to remind those returning to class that they hold a unique power to determine the election.

"Your vote matters. Your vote made a difference," Obama told about 6,000 students at Iowa State University, many wearing cardinal and gold T-shirts. "Change was possible because of you, and now we've got more work to do."

Obama told the students that they had much at stake in the Nov. 6 presidential election, panning Republican rival Mitt Romney as a candidate without a plan to move the country forward. "Last week my opponents' campaign went so far as to write you off as a lost generation. That's you according to them," the president said, referring to a Romney news release last week that referred to college students as the "Obama Economy's Lost Generation."

"What they hope is that by telling you these things, you'll get discouraged and you'll just stay home this time," Obama said. "But you can't believe it. I don't believe it."

Romney's campaign dismissed Obama's remarks, saying he had "brought the same policies to Iowa that have failed to help young Americans across the country" and left many of them "facing higher unemployment, mounting debt, rising costs, and fewer opportunities."

With Republicans gathering in Tampa, Fla., for their party convention, Obama sought to tap the same enthusiasm that propelled millions of young people to campaign and vote for him in 2008. He noted that many of the students on campus were in high school four years ago. "For the first time in most of your lives, you will get a chance to pick a president," he said.

The president, who once led a voter-registration drive in Chicago, tried to motivate the young people to register to vote, telling them that "everybody else is waiting for you, if they see you register, they'll register."