DaytonDailyNews.com

It warms political scientist Chris Duncan's heart to see people so interested in voting that record numbers are asking to vote early locally and statewide.

And he loves how excited his University of Dayton students are.

What's going on? Two words, he said: Barack Obama.

Huge numbers of young people were among the 11,000 who this week packed the Nutter Center for Sen. Obama's rally in his quest to beat out Sen. Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic nominee for president.

He hears it from his students. Obama speaks to them.

"I think he has captured their imagination. He's the first one they think is theirs," said Duncan, UD's political science department chairman.

"When you look at Hillary Clinton you see your mother. When you look at John McCain you see your grandfather. When you look at Barack Obama you see your really charismatic older brother with a cool car."

Duncan said party elders likely see Obama's popularity as a way to "capture a huge swath of young people for the Democratic party for years to come."

Polls show a very tight race in Ohio and Duncan said it appears Clinton may have been outmaneuvered.

"My sense of it is if Clinton does win Ohio, it is going to be by such a narrow margin that it is going to be spun as a win for Obama," Duncan said.

Starting Tuesday, the Montgomery County Board of Elections started seeing large numbers of early voters. About 1,539 people have cast early ballots at the board.

"Typically we don't have that many people come in and vote over the counter," said Betty Smith, deputy board director. "We did see a significant increase starting on Tuesday."

That was the day after Obama's appearance in Fairborn, where he urged early voting. The same appeal is in an ad unveiled Thursday and in e-mails to supporters.

Early Voting Rules

- Deadline to request absentee ballot - Saturday at noon

- Deadline for ballot to reach board of elections - Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

- U.S. Postal Service recommends mailing ballots at least five days before the election. That means today.

- Montgomery County Board of Elections, 451 W. Third St., Dayton; Phone - 225-5656; on the web: www.mcboe.org