ANCHESTER - Try telling Anna Lyman and her friends that their generation doesn't care about politics.
During after-school hours when they could be playing sports or watching television, these Manchester Central High School students head to the strip of campaign offices lining downtown Elm Street. Behind picture windows layered with glossy signs and bumper stickers in red, white and blue, the teenagers spend long evenings and weekends stuffing envelopes, phoning voters and planning events.
Most won't be old enough to vote in the presidential election, but that hasn't deterred them from channeling their energy into the primary. They argue over platforms, watch debates together, and talk politics in French class. They huddle on street corners holding signs in the biting cold simply so drivers will glimpse their candidate's name on their way home from work.
Lyman, who volunteers for Al Gore, admits that most of her classmates do not share her passion for politics.
''I think it's a time issue,'' she said. ''Maybe they don't want to put in the time because they have other things going on. Maybe they didn't have a catalyst to get them involved.''
But for many young people, the primary itself has been that catalyst.
''I've been around politics all my life,'' Lyman said. ''Living in New Hampshire, candidates would come to my elementary school ... That's one of the great things about New Hampshire: We are affected by firsthand contact with candidates and have our eyes opened to politics.''
Lyman attributes much of her interest in politics to the exposure she had growing up. Her parents talked politics over dinner and were involved in local campaigns, and being in New Hampshire meant Lyman got to observe national campaigns at their earliest - and often most passionate - grass-roots level.
She recalls the thrill of getting Paul Tsongas's autograph on the playground years ago, although she was too young to fully understand who he was. Ronald Reagan and George Bush are among the others who have walked her school hallways.
In a country where only one in five people age 18 to 24 bothered to vote in the last national election, a presidential off-year, the chance to make personal contact with candidates - who most Americans see only through the glass of their television screens - is no small advantage.
''New Hampshire is one of the only places you can get right up in a candidate's face and ask them about something,'' explained Matt Buzzell, a 23-year-old New Hampshire College student who volunteers for Gary Bauer. ''The next year they could be in the White House and you can say you shook their hand.''
Buzzell, who was raised in a small Massachusetts town where local politics were stressed over national, opted not to vote in the 1996 presidential election, when 70 percent of people aged 18 to 24 did not vote.
''I was probably like the rest of America, skeptical and cynical about being able to make a difference,'' he said. ''I viewed politics as covered in this untouchable veil of elitism.''
Buzzell was not alone in that view. In February, the National Association of Secretaries of State released the results of a nationwide survey of 18- to 24-year-olds. The top reason given for not voting was ''my vote won't make a difference.'' Sixty-four percent of those surveyed agreed that the ''government is run by a few big interests looking out for themselves, not for the benefit of all.''
What changed for Buzzell was hearing his candidate speak at Saint Anselm College before a crowd of fewer than 100. The intimate speech made politics and politicians seem far less unreachable, and Buzzell became involved in the campaign soon after.
''It sucks you right in,'' Buzzell said. ''There's something infectious about politics. Simply by immersing yourself in the political process, it's incredible how quickly and exponentially you learn.''
It is the kind of political education more than half of the people surveyed by the National Association of Secretaries of State said they are not exposed to in school. That finding was echoed last month by the Education Department, which released a report stating that three-quarters of this year's high school seniors are not proficient in civics.
Just 25 percent could name two ways the Constitution bars presidents from becoming dictators. In the secretaries of state survey, only 37 percent could give the length of the term a member of Congress serves.
Education about current events and issues is also lacking.
''I really don't have any firsthand sense when people talk about things like unions or Medicare or Social Security,'' said Lyman, who says her school doesn't offer a civics or current events class.
Such lack of exposure to the issues poses a significant challenge for young voters today, since the topics debated most heatedly - such as health care and Social Security - are complex.
''Our parents had Vietnam as a touchstone for their political involvement,'' explained Brian Selander, 23, who works in Bill Bradley's Manchester office. ''We've got lack of health care coverage, campaign finance reform.''
Those issues have not touched today's young people as the Vietnam War did their parents. In 1971, the political activism of young people was powerful enough to result in the ammendment that lowered the voting age to 18. But since then the participation of younger people in national politics has decreased steadily.
''There are so many candidates and platforms; it's difficult to set up your own agenda and believe in something. People would much rather be cynical and say to hell with it,'' said Buzzell, whose only high school civics course lasted less than half a year. ''Above all else, people need an education to make an informed decision, and a really high-quality education is so hard to come by these days.''
For many New Hampshire teenagers and 20-somethings who are working for candidates, campaign offices are the best civics classrooms they have entered. They are full of newspapers, press releases and other sources of information on candidates, political parties and platforms. They are crowded with experts and insiders who make enthusiastic teachers. And the excitement in the air is contagious, making listening and learning worthwhile.
Lee Herman, 17, has found he can now take up a serious political discussion with his mother, something he did only rarely before he began working for Steve Forbes this fall. He has started forming opinions of his own, often quite different from those his mother voices.
''There are some things we really don't agree on,'' he said. ''My mom is an independent and I consider myself a Republican. She takes some liberal views I really don't like.''
Herman, who was never too interested in politics before, now speaks passionately about things like abortion, gun control and budget surpluses. He even talks of running for office someday.
He has managed to draw some friends in by making rallies fun for them. One was a barbecue, which even drew people from other campaigns gathered outside a debate, and a rally next month will feature Herman's band.
''Young people bring a lot of energy with them and entertain a sort of idealism,'' said Mo Elleithee, Bradley's New Hampshire spokesperson.
Bradley's state headquarters are housed in an old mill building on Manchester's Canal Street, and young people are the lifeblood of the place. Some of them are just out of high school, most are under 25, and all are given the utmost responsibility, toting cell phones and laptop computers. They have all but crowded out traditional campaign signs by papering the walls with funky home-painted ones bearing slogans like ''Bill Bradley - He has made the long shot before.''
''When you're young, you have one shot to put in 18 hours a day, seven days a week,'' Brian Selander said, explaining what drives him to be as involved as he is. ''A lot of younger people don't understand they can make a difference, but we've proven through our grass-roots effort that 22- to 23-year-olds can make a huge difference.''
That, according to many young campaign workers, is one of the most important lessons they will take away from this primary season.
''I really think my volunteering does make a difference, even in a small way,'' Lyman said. ''I'd definitely encourage anyone to do it. It's fun, it's exciting, it gets you involved, and it's especially great if you can work in New Hamsphire.''
