By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington bureau

WASHINGTON - Not a lot of Washington news conferences feature a guy wearing shorts, a throwback Cleveland Cavaliers jersey and a silver bike chain around his neck, complete with lock.

"Whassup, everybody?" pro wrestler John Cena asked. "They told me to wear a suit and tie today, but this is the best I could do."

Cena, 26, was one of a dozen wrestlers, hip-hop stars, and civic types who came here Monday to release a list of the questions 18- to 30-year-olds want to ask candidates.

It's part of a drive to get 2 million more young people to vote in 2004 - people like Cena himself, who admits he didn't vote in 2000.

"I didn't feel I could make my voice heard," he said. "Now I realize I have a voice; 2004, this is the year we make our voice heard."

Most of the questions included in the Smackdown Your Vote guide aren't much different from what older folks would ask: What should America's long-term role be in Iraq? What is your plan for protecting America from terrorism?

But while twentysomethings share worries about jobs and the economy with their older counterparts, some of their concerns are more focused: What will candidates do to create jobs for people starting in their careers? What will they do for young adults who can't afford health care coverage?

"We are out this year to crush this misperception of youth apathy," Ian Rowe of MTV said.

The network was set to begin its Choose or Lose campaign Monday night with a show about a 26-year-old soldier from Fort Campbell, Ky., as he spends time with and gauges the Democratic presidential candidates. Sgt. Chris Herzfeld, originally from West Chester, confronts the candidates about the issues he cares about - like when his friends will be able to come home from Iraq.

Besides Iraq and the economy, most young people also are worried about education and what the candidates plan to do about it.

LaShonda Louallen, 20, a junior at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, said she was tired of seeing the students in her dorm take a semester off or drop out entirely because they couldn't pay for college.

"It's depressing," Louallen said.

Rebekah Gripshover, a 22-year-old senior at Northern Kentucky University who is in Washington for a State Department internship, said if she weren't at Monday's news conference she would be protesting Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher's proposed cuts to colleges.

Gripshover of Burlington, Ky., said she also is worried about Medicare when she retires.

"All those taxes are taken out of our paychecks, and it won't be there for us," said Gripshover, who works 40 hours a week at a law firm when she's in Kentucky.

Younger people have voted in far fewer numbers than their older counterparts in recent elections. Youth voting groups hope to reverse that trend and get 20 million 18- to 30-year-olds to vote in November, up from 18 million in 2000.

"Young people can swing this election if they choose to," said Bradshaw, another wrestler.

"We need to be heard as voters," said singer Layzie Bone, from the hip-hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

Young voters made up 17 percent of Iowa caucus-goers last month, up from just 9 percent in 2000, according to the Harvard University's Institute of Politics. In the New Hampshire primary, their share ticked up slightly, from 13 percent to 14 percent. But both states had huge increases in the numbers of young people voting, as they had in the general population.

The questions in the Voter Issues Paper were crafted using surveys, questions submitted and academic experts. They will be sent to the presidential campaigns and will be used in a Feb. 22 Democratic presidential candidate debate in Los Angeles, which will be broadcast on MSNBC and Telemundo.