SALEM (AP) — Over the years, Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury has appeared at more than 100 high schools to drive home the message that young people should register and vote.

It hasn’t taken much coaxing to get more young people registered for the May primary.

Around the state, elections offices this weekend are beginning to ship a record-shattering 2.2 million mail ballots to registered voters, largely the result of a history-making presidential race that has brought out tens of thousands of new, younger voters.

“This just thrills me,” Bradbury said. “It’s hugely satisfying to have Oregon’s primary actually mean something for the first time in 40 years.”

Oregon’s mail-in primary is one of the last in the nation — votes are counted May 20. Most political insiders had assumed the fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama would be decided long before now.

That hasn’t been the case, of course, and now Oregon finds itself at center stage. With all the interest the presidential race has generated, state elections officials last week reported that there have been 62,673 new, first-time voter registrations since Jan. 1. More than 36,000 of those are in the youngest group, ages 18-30.

Bradbury, a Democratic superdelegate who hasn’t endorsed either contender, said he thinks Obama clearly is the reason so many younger people have registered for the first time.

“Barack Obama has to get the credit — he has really inspired a lot of younger voters,” Bradbury said.

Voters recently interviewed were jazzed about being able to take part in a primary that could contribute to the election of the first black president or the first woman president.

Portland resident Austin Stewart, a 27-year-old communications company worker, is leaning toward Obama. He thinks Clinton should consider bowing out after the final primaries in early June so that Obama can focus on Republican John McCain.

“We would be a lot stronger if we had a clear candidate for November. We need to have a decision soon,” Stewart said.

But Michelle Judson, a 35-year-old food service worker from Portland, said Clinton by far is the most qualified, and she should stand and fight.

“She’s the candidate we need to go against McCain and the Republicans,” Judson said. “I think the country is ready for a big change, and we’re going to get that with Hillary Clinton.”

Voters like Stewart and Judson will likely get a chance to see both contenders again. Obama campaigned in Oregon in late March, Clinton in early April. Obama is expected to return after Tuesday’s primaries in Indiana and North Carolina and Hillary Clintonis due back in Oregon May 8 and although details have not been released.

While the contest between Clinton and Obama is drawing the most interest and spurring new voter registration, there are hotly contested races down the ballot as well — including a Democratic U.S. Senate race pitting Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley and Portland activist Steve Novick.

Both camps believe it helps them to have so many new, tuned-in voters in the primary.

“It’s a terrific thing,” Merkley spokesman Matt Canter said. “More voters are going to be participating in the Democratic primary than ever before. It will give Jeff Merkley an opportunity to introduce himself to all of those voters now, ahead of the election in the fall.”

Novick’s spokesman, Jake Weigler, said he senses a lot of excitement among voters, especially those who have registered for the first time.

“There are a lot of people hungry for change, and we think Steve Novick is the right candidate for those voters,” Weigler said.

Still, there’s little doubt that the presidential sweepstakes is the top draw for Oregonians who haven’t seen a truly competitive presidential primary since 1968.

In that year, Oregon was a key battleground — and a crucial run-up to the California primary — in the Democratic race between Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy.

Riding a wave of sentiment against the Vietnam War, McCarthy won Oregon’s primary, marking the first time any of the Kennedy brothers had ever lost an election.

Since then, more states have moved to earlier presidential primaries, leaving Oregon with little clout in the picking of presidential nominees.

But not this year.

“We haven’t seen anything quite like this, not in the years that I’ve lived in Oregon,” Bradbury said. “It’s really exciting to have our votes make a difference.”