As an Iowan, I had the privilege of participating in our "first in the nation" presidential caucus a couple weeks ago.

This was actually my very first caucus. It's the first time I've lived in Iowa during a presidential election since I was in college in 1992, and I didn't caucus that year .

Frankly, after months and months of candidate coverage and our phone ringing off the hook with pollsters, I thought the most exciting part of January 3 would be the peace and quiet that ensued afterward. But caucusing was more interesting than I anticipated — my room was buzzing with interaction and excitement. We gathered in a local school library and it was full to the brim with voters of all ages, as well as TV cameras and national media figures strolling around. Pretty cool.

It was also exciting to see so many young voters on hand. It turns out that "youth voters" (ages 18-29) showed up in big numbers  — over tripling the number that participated in the 2004 caucus, and as a group, they represented about 18% of all caucus-goers.

Just curious, for all you "youth voters" out there — are you planning to vote in your state's primary, and are you looking at the candidates' stance on education when casting your vote?