In just one week, Illinois will be one of 22 states casting primary ballots in what’s been dubbed “Super Tuesday.” The campaigns are making their final push, and that includes New York Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign—which is looking to compete with Illinois Senator Barack Obama on his home turf. But not only is the Clinton campaign looking to compete here, it’s making a concerted effort to go after one of Obama’s key demographics, young voters.

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Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s expected to win a popular majority in Illinois on Tuesday. For one, a recent poll showed him with a 2-1 lead. There’s also the state Democratic Party, which has fallen in line behind Obama.

HYNES: This is Barack Obama country.

Just yesterday, State Comptroller Dan Hynes stood with other Democratic leaders talking about plans to mobilize their political organizations for Obama.

HYNES: If he’s working other states, we’re going to cover him here in Illinois.

Thing is, nominations are about delegates, and Illinois awards delegates proportionately—which means percentages matter. Democratic candidates need about 2000 delegates to secure the nomination, and with 185 delegates, Illinois is the 3rd biggest prize for Democrats on Tuesday. In Illinois, even if a candidate doesn’t win a majority—but they get at least 15 percent in a single congressional district, they get a slice of the delegates from that district.

ZOLT: We know that Senator Obama has great support in Illinois.  But we’re not taking Illinois for granted.  We’re not leaving Illinois behind.

Stacey Zolt-Hara is a spokesperson for the Clinton campaign. Just as Obama’s trying to win delegates in Clinton’s home state of New York—Zolt-Hara says the Clinton campaign is doing the same thing here.

ZOLT: The delegates that we win in Illinois could put Hillary Clinton over the edge on February 5 to win the Democratic nomination.

Clinton does some claim to the state—as she grew up in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge. Besides Obama, Clinton is the only Democrat with full delegate slates in each of Illinois congressional districts. The Clinton campaign recently opened a Chicago office—ramping up its efforts leading into the state’s primary. Clinton’s effort to compete on all fronts includes a fight for young voters. Meaning that in Chicago, there are Clinton organizers that have taken on what would seem to be a double-up-hill battle—going after one of Obama bases of support, right in his own backyard.

Ambi: Door buzzer
DUJAN: Hey come on up.

Over the weekend, 31-year-old Chicagoan Kevin Dujan was hosting a phonebank at his home on the city’s northside. About a dozen volunteers climbed the stairs to his third floor apartment.

DUJAN: You almost made it.

Dujan wore a red t-shirt that read “Hot For Hillary,” and in his apartment windows, walls, even cupcakes were decorated to support Clinton. For nearly 3 hours, the volunteers sat in every room—calling likely voters and punching information about them.

STABRAWA: Alfredo, hello, I’m Alexandra.  I’m a volunteer for Hillary’s campaign.  Oh you love her?  As do I.

Alexandra Stabrawa and Elizabeth Neukirk are 21 and 20. Stabrawa says they both started out supporting Obama.

STABRAWA: Chicago.  You know, hometown pride.  Yeah, go Obama.  I’m not voting for Hillary just because she’s a woman.  You know, come on.

But the two say they saw one of the debates in September... and that sold them on Clinton.

NEWKIRK: Since then we’ve just been...
STABRAWA: Fired up.
NEUKIRK: Oh my god.
STABRAWA: Yeah.
NEUKIRK/STABRAWA: It was amazing.  Yeah.

Neukirk and Stabrawa have been volunteering for the Clinton campaign since last fall. Stabrawa admits sometimes, especially in Chicago, it’s hard to be a young person who supports Clinton.

STABRAWA: There’s so much of this Facebook, MySpace, online stuff going out where everybody knows who you’re supporting, what Facebook groups you’re in.  There’s really a lot of peer pressure to vote for somebody because everybody thinks they’re cool, and all your friends are doing it.

As the two women work the phones—Brian Krantz is down the hall training some new volunteers.

KRANTZ: Focus on your personal story about why you support Hillary Clinton.  Why you think she’s the best candidate.

Krantz is in charge of recruiting young people for Clinton’s Illinois campaign—trying to make sure there are more stories like Neukirk’s and Stabrawa’s. Krantz actually volunteered for Obama’s 2006 Senate run, and says he still likes the senator. But he says he was so convinced Clinton was a better candidate for president, he signed up to work on her Chicago campaign.

KRANTZ: I introduced myself as someone who was interested in getting involved.  And someone who had a lot of knowledge about what was going on on the internet, especially social networking.

Since then, Krantz has been organizing events for young supporters and coordinating outreach on the web. Krantz says he’s also had a lot of success, winning over young people with a pitch that spotlight her experience—and what he describes as her progressive positions on the issues. He says in some cases, peer pressure favoring Obama has helped his cause—making it an act of independence to support Clinton.

KRANTZ: To say, “Hey, we’re battling what a lot of people would say is the incumbent candidate in Illinois, which is Barack Obama.”

Krantz says it’s also not just about the primary in Illinois—but about building a network of young Clinton supporters for the future.

KRANTZ: This is a nationwide competition.  And no matter what happens in Chicago or in Illinois, I believe Hillary’s going to win the nomination.  You know... we couldn’t just wait to build a framework.  And I knew that was going to be tough.  But I think it’s all going to pay off.
 
In response to the Clinton campaign’s effort to after young voters in Illinois, the Obama campaign said they take the challenge seriously and they’re not taking anything in Illinois for granted. Towards the end of our interview, I asked Brian Krantz, if he’s always been attracted to tough jobs. He quickly said yes, definitely. Then paused and said his job is not that job that tough, because he knows that there’s support out there.