It's a caucus-watching party at North Central

Perhaps the largest television-viewing party at North Central College tonight won't center around a college football bowl game or "Grey's Anatomy" re-run.

Instead, the start of the political playoffs with the Iowa caucuses will enrapture a budding group of ballot junkies at the Naperville campus.

Staff members from the political science department will join members of the new "Politically Active Cardinals" student group in dissecting the evening and picking favorites to pin electoral dreams on.

The early idols of the young voters on campus seem to be Republicans Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee and Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Rima Gungor is president and one of the founding members of the student group. She said the object of both the group and the caucus-watching party is to spread knowledge about the candidates without any ideological bias. It's a grassroots attempt at fighting the political apathy American youths are notorious for, she said.

To that end, Facebook is helping lead the charge in networking information about the party and the candidates, Gungor said.

"Facebook is one of our biggest ways to get the word out," she said. "We're hoping the party gets 30 people, and it's looking like that will happen."

As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 11 confirmed attendees on the event's Facebook page, 20 "maybes" and 53 people still to reply. The event also is open to the community.

Political science associate professor Stephen Maynard Caliendo said he hasn't seen many students wearing political buttons on campus yet. But several candidates are proving more appealing than previous politicians in the race for president.

"Ron Paul absolutely has a hold on college students," Caliendo said. "He may be positioning himself for an independent run. And by the time Huckabee really started to gain momentum our fall session was over, so I'm interested to see how that plays out."

Caliendo said that despite the hype about Obama being the first minority and Clinton the first woman with legitimate shots at the presidency, college students aren't factoring that in.

"I don't think they see the struggle the way generations that are older than them do," Caliendo said. "They don't think of Barack Obama as the black candidate as much as they do the candidate that's speaking to their issues."

Tonight's viewing party starts at 7 p.m. at the Townhomes Residence Hall, 147 S. Loomis St., Naperville.