ST. PAUL, Minn. - A.J. Augustine, a 19-year-old student at Iowa State University, is a minority. He knows it.

Yet, the Fort Dodge native and delegate to the Republican National Convention here doesn't think it has to be that way.

A backer of GOP presidential candidate John McCain, Augustine is part of a small band of young Republicans at this convention who are working among their peers to get the Arizona senator elected.

They also have their own suggestions about what McCain might do to erode some of Barack Obama's lead among youth.

"It's going to be a hard battle, but it's worth fighting," says Augustine, a political science and pre-law student at Iowa State University.

Iowans in particular know about Obama's national appeal to youth. Its foundation, in large part, was built in Iowa.

In the face of skeptics who said he couldn't draw teens and 20-somethings in significant numbers to the caucuses, Obama did exactly that. One out of six Democratic caucus-goers were between 17 and 24.

A poll last week by Harvard's Institute of Politics said Obama leads McCain among 18 to 24 year olds by 23 percentage points. The poll said 55 percent of the age group preferred Obama, with 32 percent for McCain.

"Young people across the state are looking to change the direction of this country and we saw that on caucus night when young people turned out in record numbers to support Sen. Obama," said Brad Anderson, a spokesman.

Augustine isn't daunted, however. He says McCain can appeal to young people on taxes and should visit college campuses more.

"Hope is a great thing, but you've got to look at the substance behind the hope," he says.

The Harvard poll said Obama leads on an array of domestic concerns and the war in Iraq, but that McCain is leading on the question of who's most ready to be commander in chief.

"The surge has obviously worked and young people are starting to recognize that," said Mike Knopf, a 17-year-old high school student from Dubuque and the youngest delegate at the convention here.

Knopf says he believes a lot of young people back Obama without really knowing what he stands for. "Young kids are naïve," he said.

Conventions can be an opportunity to reach youth. The Harvard poll said that nearly 30 percent of people between 18 and 24 planned to pay attention very closely or somewhat closely to the convention here.

Youth have been turning out in ever larger proportions the last several years, according to organizations that track young voters.

That includes Iowa, though one of the challenges for Iowa Republicans is the organizing advantage Obama gained as a result of running in the caucuses. "Obama left the state with an organization in place. McCain's got to build from scratch, or rely on the Republican organization," said Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University.

Wendy Riemann, a spokesperson for McCain, said the Republican is appealing to young people in Iowa by trying to reform the country's energy system out of a concern for global warming and by appealing to them on the economy and the value of service.

"Iowa's youth are very active," she said. "Now that college students have returned, they are using Facebook and myspace to show their support for John McCain and organize meetings."

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.