Like a presidential candidate on the campaign trail, young voters are all over the map.

Health care. The environment. Social Security. Abortion. Gay marriage. The war on terror. The war on integrity. You name it, they cited it this weekend, as candidates made their final push for votes in tomorrow's primary.

Some young people have decided; most interviewed by the Monitor haven't. They dug in their heels, on the left and on the right. They landed in the middle. They even jumped across party lines, keeping open minds and shunning any sort of ideological tone.

Monica Matthews of Boscawen is an 18-year-old freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She borrowed $25,000 for one year of college and figures she'll owe $100,000 in loans when she graduates.

"That's a mortgage payment," Matthews said, standing in the gym lobby outside Sen. Hillary Clinton's rally at Merrimack Valley High on Saturday. "As a single person, when I graduate I won't be making much money. How are they going to help us out with that? We're the future leaders."

Matthews is leaning toward Clinton over Sen. Barack Obama because "I like what she's saying about universal health care. (Obama's) plan doesn't cover everyone."

Buses and planes have brought in many young out-of-staters eager to join the mix of town hall meetings and stump speeches.

They came as individuals, to learn about the candidates. They came representing groups, to promote and advocate.

"We want Hillary to say something on Social Security," said 24-year-old Timmy McGuire of Rochester, N.Y. "We're pro-Social Security reform."

McGuire is not mainstream. He likes Sen. Joe Biden, who dropped out of the race last week. He likes Reps. Ron Paul, a Republican, and Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat, who are far back in the polls. He likes ideas on the edge.

"I'm leaning more toward the constitutional-minded candidates, on both sides," McGuire said. "I'm backing issues: the judges not legislating, respect for life. I think the value in promoting the lower-tier candidates is that the issue is put forward, and while the first-tier candidates don't take a solid stance on them the way the lower-tier candidates do, the issues come up and the first-tier candidates have to deal with them in a way they don't usually want to."

New Jersey's Mary Zwick, 21, joined McGuire in the main lobby at Merrimack Valley High School and his fight to rescue Social Security. She also straddled parties, saying, "I haven't really studied him, but Obama looks better than Hillary, and (Mike) Huckabee looks good. I'm conservative, and he's good on the pro-life issue, which I'm very concerned with."

Out the school's front doors, Manchester's Nicholas Goroff, a 24-year old student at St. Anselm College, handed out T-shirts and literature for Strong American Schools. He mentioned liking Obama but stressed that his organization supports no one in particular. Just a message.

"We're trying to get the word out and get education back into the sphere of public debate," Goroff said. "We have a war, we have economic problems, but education is being left on the back burner a lot of the time."

At the Obama rally in Nashua Saturday, 25-year-old Brian Cardello of Connecticut said Obama has something that hits home with him.

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