The Most Sought-After Young Man in Iowa

IOWA CITY, Iowa, Nov. 12, 2007 — -- Twenty-year-old Atul Nakhasi's bedroom is messy, like most other college students his age.

But in addition to an unmade bed, and laundry strewn around the room, Nakhasi's clutter includes handwritten notes from Bill Clinton, business cards of major political campaign directors and personally autographed books from Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Nakhasi is the president of the University of Iowa Democrats, an organization he has been rebuilding over the last three years, from a crumbling club that attracted eight students per meeting, to a campus powerhouse, hosting events of thousands and attracting media from across the country.

The UDems, as they're more commonly known, have hosted six major candidates in the last four months.

After Bill and Hillary Clinton held a rally on campus in July, Nakhasi received a thank you note from the former president. And in August, after Biden held a book signing, he took Nakhasi out to lunch.

This extreme attention comes with a good reason — they're courting Nakhasi in hopes of getting an endorsement of the UDems, which could mean thousands of votes and volunteers for their campaigns.

"We're, essentially, the backbone in their volunteer efforts, in their setup efforts, in how the campaigns work at the fundamental level," Nakhasi said.

"Our influence is definitely great, and the candidates are looking for us to jump onboard and say, you know, 'I'm voting for you.'"

While Nakhasi's junior year has been filled with hobnobbing with presidential candidates, he also maintains a full workload for his major — biology, with a concentration in neuroscience.

That's right — the political game is just his hobby.

"You know, I tend to be on binges of politics and neurobiology every other week," he said with a laugh.

"Every few days, I get a call from a campaign, saying, 'you know, Sen. Clinton is coming in five days, are you ready to help out?' And I'm like, 'well, I have a biology test in four days, so, you know, I'll do my best!'"

Situated in the middle of one of the key states that selects who the presidential candidates will be, Nakhasi and his classmates have the unique chance to host many of the presidential hopefuls as they travel across Iowa.

The Iowa caucuses are less than two months away, and campaigns are charging through town at a frenetic pace.

"It's been insane, you know? That's a one-word description of what's happened. But it's been amazing, as well," Nakhasi said.

"I'd definitely say it's been a huge transformation since the first day I stepped foot on this campus. I would have never expected this opportunity to come my way."

Earlier this week, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was on the University of Iowa's campus to give a foreign policy speech on Iran. Before the speech, Nakhasi and about 12 other students met with Edwards privately to ask him a few questions on youth issues.

"The government is never going to work for your generation unless we fix it," said Edwards. "It needs to be fixed."

Edwards also told students the first two things he would do as president would be a program of universal health care for all Americans, and ending the war in Iraq.

Nakhasi says these are both issues that are incredibly important to young people in this country.

"There's 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds out in Iraq, and so, that definitely is an issue that affects us," he said.

"But even going beyond Iraq, there's critical issues, such as college affordability and higher education. These are issues we want to see addressed."

Nakhasi thinks Obama is an appealing choice to youth because of his charisma and his policy of trying to unify the country. But he adds that many of his peers are starting to re-evaluate their first picks.

As for Nakhasi, he won't say whom he supports just yet. Rather than endorsing one candidate, he wants to try to engage as many young people in Iowa into the political scene as possible.

He's convinced that if more college students get involved in caucusing and volunteering for campaigns, they can change the future of the country.

"There are 120,000 caucus goers who end up caucusing on that night in January, and there's 220,000 college students in the state of Iowa," said Nakhasi.

"If we wanted to, we could single-handedly determine the next president of this country."