Go to just about any college campus in search or young Republicans and get ready for a hunt because they're not so easy to find. This year, producer Martin and I have interviewed many, many college voters-only a handful says they're conservative.

That wasn't always the case. In the 1980's Republicans had the youth vote locked up---millions of them helped elect President Reagan in '84 and President Bush in '88. In fact, they won the youth vote by 20 points! (There were no exit polls in 1980)

Back then, Republicans ran as outsiders, says Charles Hurt, DC bureau chief for the NY Post (a sister company to FNC). "They were charging the gates and they were going to smash down this slow, plodding government that was not responsive to people," he said. Essentially, Republicans were talking about "change," and it worked. Today that's Barack Obama's mantra and it's one that many young Democrats repeat.

Obama talks "change" and Hillary Clinton touts "experience," but what's the Republican message this year? Come to think of it, I can't say for sure. (House Republicans have tried to co-opt the "change" message, and regardless of whether that's true or not, that word has already been taken and conservatives look foolish for trying to co-opt it. Gotta come up with something new, guys!

Take a look at these poll numbers. Republicans are getting killed in the youth vote: Obama leads McCain by 23 points among voters under 40, says pollster Scott Rasmussen of Rasmussenreports.com. Hillary Clinton leads the AZ senator by 10 points. FOX News polls put Obama 21 points ahead of McCain. Republicans better get cracking if they hope to catch up.

So what happened in 20 years to drive young Republicans from the GOP?

Andrea Tantaros, a former Capitol Hill staffer and familiar face on FNC, says the GOP machine is in need of repair, "The way they communicate is fundamentally broken. They have a lot of work that needs to be done."

Andrea says in recent years Republicans have ignored young voters in order to concentrate on Hispanics. She believes that such a narrow focus has been a mistake.

Charles Hurt says look back to 1994 when Republicans took control of Congress, that's when their message really resonated with young voters." They were going to change everything and for young people at the time it was a pretty exciting thing with Contract with America and it really seemed that things were going to happen in Washington," he said.

http://www.house.gov/house/Contract/CONTRACT.html

Part of the contract read: This year's election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public's money.

Charles said, "Twelve years into it Republicans have proven themselves to have been just as errant as Democrats were."

When I talk to most Republicans about the youth vote, they roll their eyes. They remind me that young people never really turn out to vote in the general election. Well, this year that doesn't seem to be the case. Voter turnout among people under 30 has quadrupled in some primary states, leading many to believe that this fall's election will amount to a youth quake. "Republicans cannot make the mistake of ignoring them this election cycle," says Andrea.

Charles says, "Now the outsider is Barack Obama who says ‘tear it down' and ‘change things in Washington,' and that's very appealing to young voters."