[media-credit name=’DEBBIE LI/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]

Hundreds of University of Wisconsin students got “fired up” once again Tuesday night in support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Nearly 350 students attended the Students for Barack Obama kickoff, which was co-sponsored by College Democrats of Madison. The event garnered 175 new voter registrations and even more new volunteers, said Students for Obama state coordinator Bryon Eagon.

The event featured campaign tips from state coordinators, messages from Madison-area leaders and testimonials from students already involved in the campaign.

Obama campaign state director Dan Kanninen told the crowd — most of whom will be voting in their first presidential election on Nov. 4 — they were lucky to cast their first vote for Obama.

“Not only is he the best candidate we’ve ever seen for president of the United States, but he’s running against the worst president and the worst policies we’ve ever seen,” said Kanninen.

Kanninen said campus votes will be crucial to an Obama victory in Wisconsin.

Citing UW’s enrollment of over 42,000, Kanninen said students could determine how Wisconsin will vote, as John Kerry won and state in 2004 by 11,000 votes and Al Gore won in 2000 by only 5,000 votes.

Students for Obama Chair Ami ElShareif said she looked forward to getting members of the enthusiastic crowd involved in the campaign.

“You could really see that everyone was excited and ready to be involved in the campaign and really wanted to be engaged — and get their friends engaged,” said ElShareif.

College Democrats of Madison Chair Claire Rydell said she was excited for the election, but acknowledged her organization has lots of work before Nov. 4.

“I’m very hopeful; I’m very excited,” Rydell said. “We have our work cut out for us this fall, but we’re ready to do it.”

Tuesday’s kickoff came after a conference call to reporters earlier in the day announcing the opening of an Obama campaign office near State Street.

“Having an office so close to campus really shows that this campaign cares about students,” Eagon said. “This campaign is a grassroots movement and having students as the base of volunteers and supporters has been very important to victory.”

A grand opening for the office, which is located at 216 N. Henry St., will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The campaign office will be used for hosting events and speakers, phone banking and as a source of election information for downtown Madison and the UW campus, Eagon said.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s nearest campaign office is located in Fitchburg, five miles south of campus.

UW College Republicans Chair Sara Mikolajczak said even though McCain lacks a campaign office close to campus, her organization, as well as UW Students for McCain, will be very present up to the election.

“A lot of people are simply for Barack Obama because it’s cool right now — it’s a fad,” Mikolajczak said. “We’re trying to educate people on both sides of the issues.”