James Kotecki, 23, hosts KoteckiTV for Politico.com.

He went to school to study international relations, but James Kotecki is an expert in something totally different: YouTube. From his Georgetown University dorm room, Kotecki started a politically-focused videoblog he called, “the vlog of vlogs.”

Equipped only with a cheap webcam and raw talent for political satire, Kotecki started producing videos to find his voice online as a commentator. He also tapped the candidates' YouTube channels, to request interviews with them. It worked. Ron Paul and Mike Gravel showed up for interviews in James’ dorm room!

Now 23, James writes, produces and hosts KoteckiTV for Politico.com. He releases new video blogs every day. Hey, it’s not the financial job he was planning but he’s definitely found his niche this political season.

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview

Noah Gray, 16, is the founder of Virgin Voting.

You know what they say: You never forget your first time. Voting, that is.  Noah Gray can't vote because he¹s only 16, but he founded Virgin Voting to encourage other young people to take their first-time voting seriously.

In this historic election year, Noah doesn't care who 18-year-olds vote for - just that they vote. So, he's giving them an incentive: a video contest. Young people compete for a prize by producing films that call on other young people to take to the polls.

A film created by Noah himself can offer participants inspiration. He put together a documentary that's been shown in high schools and has received short film awards. It not only includes interviews Noah scored with major candidates and their surrogates during the primary season, but interviews with first-time voters about the issues important to them.

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview

Amanda Bass, 20, is regional field director for Georgia Campaign for Change.

Amanda Bass tries to inspire young people to get involved in politics, paraphrasing something photographer Gordon Parks said about using a camera: “You have to have a reason to pick it up. You have to have a story to tell.” As the regional field director for Georgia Campaign for Change, this 20-year-old says you have to believe in what you’re fighting for.

Amanda believes in her cause to register voters in Georgia so much, she once chased down a bus. She was waiting for a man to finish registering when his bus started leaving. She ran to climb aboard and asked them to wait two minutes for him to finish, and they did. But that is just one of the many people she’s registered, on football fields, in beauty shops or outside stores, while working for Barack Obama's campaign.

Until election day, it’s crunch time for Amanda and her staff. She says it’s late to bed, early to rise and lots of coffee. She oversees voter registration efforts for 18 Georgia counties by organizing phone banks and planning events. She also hasn’t gone anywhere in months without a voter registration form. She says she even hands out forms through her car window while getting coffee through the drive-thru.

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview

FYI: Until election day, I will be interviewing Young People Who Rock Politics! We will hear the views of different parties and platforms to ensure we are representing this generation’s diverse viewpoints.

Harout Samra, 25, is chairman of the Florida College Republicans.

Harout Samra considers himself the embodiment of the American dream. With parents who immigrated from Lebanon, Harout says he grew up with everything his parents didn’t. Now 25, this law student cites his upbringing as the reason he became an active Republican.

As chairman of the Florida College Republicans, Harout coordinates the college outreach efforts for the McCain campaign. He plans events that are “Gen Y” friendly like political debates, rallies or tailgates. He also speaks in support of conservative viewpoints across the state.

When asked to explain why young people should and do care about this election, Harout says, “These are our friends who are going to Iraq. These are our jobs that are being lost because small businesses can’t afford to pay their taxes. It's very important to each and every one of us to have our say.”

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview

FYI: Until election day, I will be interviewing Young People Who Rock Politics! We will hear the views of different parties and platforms to ensure we are representing this generation’s diverse viewpoints.

Charlie Smith, 24, is president of the College Republican National Committee.

Twenty-four-year-old Charlie Smith will speak at the GOP's national convention alongside some of the most powerful Republican leaders in the United States. As of a week ago, he told us he was still working on his speech. “When they called me and told me it would be in prime-time on Thursday, I was surprised. But I think my message is simple for young people,” he says.

As the president of the College Republican National Committee, Charlie mobilizes conservative students across the country. With many of his friends serving overseas, he thinks one of the biggest issues this election cycle is national security. In fact, Charlie was compelled into his role after watching media coverage of 9/11.

Charlie isn’t sure if politics is in his future. For now, he likes pulling the strings from behind the scenes for a young constituency that people assume vote the other way. Oh, and still has to get to St. Paul for the convention. He's driving with a group of students who have gone cross-country only driving in "red" districts. Alas, Charlie won't be renting the car, because he's not old enough.

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview

Lauren Wolfe is president of the College Democrats of America.

To a lot of law school students, the Democratic National Convention is something to tune into in between study sessions. But Lauren Wolfe will be front and center in Denver. As president of the College Democrats of America, she will be running her own convention within the convention.

About 600 college students from 250 schools are registered for the CDA National Convention, which aims, among other things, to teach students campaigning skills. Speakers like Howard Dean, the DNC chair and former Vermont governor, will be on hand to energize the young party leaders. They are also rallying around what Lauren says are their main concerns this election year: affordable college education, health insurance and the war in Iraq.

By virtue of her position with the CDA, she is also a superdelegate. As for one day running for president of the United States, she says, “I like politics, but it's not something I'm going to jump in anytime soon.” Lauren is just focused on inspiring young Democrats this week and finding a job for after graduation when she gets back home to Michigan.

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview

Director Spike Lee speaks to Generation Engage members during a Get Engaged Forum.

How do you mobilize young people this election season? We hear it over and over again: "The apathy!" "The sloth!" "The lack of civic engagement!"

Generation Engage wants to tackle these issues from the bottom up. Adrian Talbott and Justin Rockefeller came from high-powered political families and went on to graduate from fancy universities. But, they actually don't think that's where the change is going to happen. They are interested in the 51 percent of 18-29-year-olds who are off college campuses or didn't even go to college.

They started Generation Engage three years ago, before all the hoopla of this historic campaign cycle. By hiring locals to set up satellite community outreach programs, the organization sets up politically non-partisan meetings on topics most appropriate to a particular area. But Talbott and Rockefeller don't want to dissolve like many "get-out to vote" organizations. They call themselves an initiative for "civic engagement," and say they want to remind people that democracy will continue well after November’s presidential election.

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview

The members of S4 hope to educate college students about Social Security.

So maybe it's not the sexiest issue on the campaign trail. But if it's up to the founders of Students for Saving Social Security, it will be. The organization, known as S4, sees a chance to make the issue a hot one now.

"Now" is a big thing for the activist group that has a presence on colleges across the country. Its members fear that young people don't think they have to care about Social Security until it's too late. According to the Social Security Administration, the system is facing a $13.4 trillion shortfall.

S4 advocates the use of more personal retirement accounts to tighten the gap. It's a solution conservatives often support. But its members maintain that the group is nonpartisan and that they only want Social Security to have more presence in political dialogue. That way, they hope, when the time comes for them to depend on it, it will be there.

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview

The 2008 presidential election is the first that superdelegate Jason Rae will be able to vote in.

Not too many kids tell their parents who to vote for when they are 5 years old or ask their fourth-grade teacher to watch the presidential inauguration. But what would you expect from a 21-year-old superdelegate?

Jason Rae went from being a U.S. Senate page to the youngest elected representative of the Democratic National Committee while he was in high school. He actually couldn’t vote when he was first elected because he was six months shy of 18. But he wanted to represent what he calls “America’s next generation.” So, he and his friends hand-painted posters with the slogan “A ray of hope for the future.” It worked.

What about his future? Rae says, “I remember back in kindergarten saying I wanted to run for president, but I’ll settle for an elected office.” These days he is relishing the fact he’s being wooed by both sides for his coveted vote in the close Democratic race for the 2008 presidential nomination - dining with Sen. Hillary Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, meeting with Sen. Barack Obama and chatting with the highest-profile politicians from across the country.

How will he vote? He hasn’t said, but we’ll try to get it out of him.

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview

Alexander Heffner also hosts a radio show, broadcasting from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

This year, 44 million Americans ages 18 to 29 will be eligible to vote. The youth vote will account for about a quarter of the entire electorate, which means the candidates are focused on getting young people to the polls. So is the founder of Scoop08, Alexander Heffner – but in a different way.

Heffner, an 18-year-old high school senior, organized 300 student volunteers from high schools and colleges from diverse regions and ideological backgrounds to work on what he calls “a new kind of newspaper.” Each student is dispatched on issue-based rather than horse race-focused beats, like “Libertarian Party,” “Rhetoric” and “Social Networking.” The idea behind Scoop08: young people covering the issues in a smart way, but also in a way that they would tell their friends.

Scoop08 is all about young people, but Heffner realized that help from the pros only makes the youth push better. The newspaper’s advisory board is stellar: Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, National Review founder William F. Buckley and Judy Woodruff of PBS, to name a few. At Scoop08, they know and respect the rules and norms of political coverage, and know how to break them.

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview