ILFORD, N.H. - It was Wednesday, 7:45 a.m., at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
The room had everything one would expect. Paneled walls. Folding chairs. Old portraits of soldiers. An audience of housewives, retirees, and an American flag as a stage prop for Senator John McCain, who had come for another town meeting before the Feb. 1 primary.
But there, as jarring as the glittery disco ball hanging from above, was 19-year-old Neil Miller, asking about the Arizona Republican's campaign finance reform plan and its impact on the political process.
''My dear young friend,'' McCain said, ''you are no longer represented in Washington.''
The candidate's response captured two trends emerging in this presidential campaign: Young people still aren't voting, studies show, because they feel disconnected. But growing numbers seem to be connecting with McCain.
Despite disagreeing with his conservative views on abortion, his promise to beef up the military, and his belief that filtering software should be put on computers to protect children from Internet pornography, they like him precisely because he recognizes their cynicism.
When Elizabeth Dole dropped out of the Republican primary, her entire youth organization, with a couple of thousand volunteers, immediately switched to McCain and not the party front-runner, George W. Bush.
Students from Harvard University, which some conservatives consider the belly of the liberal beast, have signed onto his campaign. And then there are those like Miller, who crawled out of bed on a biting cold morning during his college break to talk about issues.
Despite McCain's mock penchant for the rock group Nine Inch Nails (which he later admitted was an inappropriate joke during a televised debate), these teenagers and twentysomethings give similar responses when asked why they are paying attention to him and probably supporting him.
They think he's genuine. They think he's a hero, at a time when there are few, for surviving five years as a Vietnam prisoner of war. And they think he is inspiring when he makes Kennedy-like statements urging young Americans to do something ''beyond your own self-interest.''
''He has more virtues than vices,'' Miller, of El Camino, Calif., said after listening to McCain tackle questions for more than an hour. ''Most politicians are more practical than emotional. Al Gore just seems like a robot; I'm doubting his speeches.''
Since 18-year-olds were allowed to vote in 1972, their turnout rate has steadily declined. Turnout in 1998 elections among this group was estimated at less than 20 percent, a record low.
To understand why this generation of young voters does not participate at the polling place is to understand why McCain is catching on.
A graduate school study at the University of California at Los Angeles last year found that only 25 percent of incoming students believe keeping up with politics is important. The study also showed that volunteerism was becoming popular with freshmen because they see that results and change are more likely that way.
Likewise, a survey released in September by the Pew Charitable Trust's Project Vote Smart found that a quarter of 18- to 25-year-olds were uninterested in casting ballots because they don't trust government.
McCain's platform of ''getting big money out of politics'' and ''restoring integrity to the White House'' seems to be written with them in mind.
While it may not be surprising that Bill Bradley's campaign for the Democratic nomination has the support of many campus ideologues because of his intellectual approach to helping the disenfranchised, the support for McCain among young adults was less expected.
During a three-day conference that ended Saturday, more than 1,000 high school and college students descended on Manchester for a campaign convention to hear the candidates, learn about issues and sign up for political organizations.
Susan Markham, executive director of Participation 2000, which recruits students to help elect Democrats, sat at a booth at the conference and said she believes McCain and Bradley are the only candidates addressing young people's feeling of not being represented in Washington.
''But I was surprised at the number of McCain supporters I've seen here,'' Markham added.
Lisa Arfaa Webster, a marketing director for George Washington University, which also had a booth for its graduate program, said she noticed in the crowd ''more Bradley fans than Gore, and more McCain fans than Bush.''
She said one reason might be that Bradley and McCain present compelling personal stories.
Bradley, a former Rhodes Scholar and star forward for the New York Knicks basketball team, tells about come-from-behind, on-court victories that resonate with aspiring athletes and fans, who quite literally look up to him.
McCain, whose campaign posters of him as a young Navy pilot have become pinups for teenage girls, has war stories to tell.
''I'm thankful for what he did,'' said 17-year-old Blake Norton, who is considering joining the military. Although Norton will not be old enough to vote in the primary, he attended a McCain town hall meeting in Merrimack High School and brought two friends. ''I know a lot of kids who are really interested in this,'' he said.
McCain also uses humor as a way of reaching out to audiences, making young people feel less intimidated. He has four children ages 15 and younger, and his Phoenix home is wired with five personal computers, enabling him to relate with young audiences.
That's evident when he cites Star Wars - the movie, not the would-be missile defense system - likening himself to Luke Skywalker as a metaphor for his underdog campaign.
And it was evident the other day when an MTV reporter, traveling on McCain's campaign bus, asked: ''Are you living `La Vida Loca,' Senator?''
McCain's 28-year-old aide blushed, but the 63-year-old candidate laughed heartily at the reference to the Ricky Martin song about ''the crazy life'' and said, yes, he was, in fact, living ''La Vida Loca'' on the Straight Talk Express.
McCain also has one of the most complete Web sites among the candidates. The Pew survey found that most young respondents said the Internet was their most useful information source.
In an interview, McCain said something crystalized for him during a trip in May to the John F. Kennedy Library to receive a Profile in Courage Award for his efforts on campaign finance reform.
He watched recordings of Kennedy's speeches and was moved anew.
''The greatest mission of a president is to motivate a generation of Americans whose cause is greater than their own self-interest,'' McCain said, sipping a Coke during a recent ride to Boston.
Zack Turner, a 22-year-old college student from New York City, said McCain has motivated him.
Sitting in the back during the town hall meeting at Merrimack last week, Turner was holding a small flag on a stick and taking a breather. This was not a typical college vacation for him. He was working for McCain.
''I feel like I can trust him,'' said Turner, who is registered as an independent but said he leans to the left. ''It's the the first time I've wanted to volunteer for a candidate.''
Turner said he disagrees with McCain's antiabortion stance and thinks his tax cut plan is a little too generous. But he likes the fact that McCain keeps talking about Social Security being bankrupt by the time the current crop of college students retires. He likes McCain's plan to use the federal budget surplus to shore up the fund, as well as a separate proposal to pay down the national debt.
''Obviously, that's important,'' Turner added, ''particularly for our generation.''
