Too Solemn for Her Generation?

At times, she seems too afraid or too calculating to answer controversial questions head-on. When she was asked recently about her father's affair with Monica Lewinsky -- and whether it had an effect on her mom's credibility -- she was blunt, according to news accounts: "I do not think that's any of your business."

Her tone was more that of a reprimanding scold than a camera-savvy surrogate wooing the college crowd. Wouldn't it have been smarter politics to deflect the question with harmless sarcasm? "I really don't feel like talking about Monica," she might have said, "but thank you very much for the personal and intrusive question." Or, if humor isn't appropriate, what about: "I know that question may be on your minds, but I'm not ready to talk about such a personal issue, and I may never be."

After that rough start, she has since addressed Lewinsky questions more thoughtfully, explaining that it's a family matter and that her father's behavior shouldn't influence a vote on her mother.

Or there's another intriguing clip, "Chelsea Clinton vs Daniel Lee," in which a student asks whether she could say anything positive about President Bush. The question itself seemed deliberately irritating, but it could have been an opportunity for a witty, detailed smackdown of a president of whom, according to recent poll data, a large majority of 18-to-29-year-olds disapprove. Instead, Chelsea went bland. "Everyone has a right to his or her opinion in this country," she helpfully explained to a crowd of students. "I urge you to vote for whomever you choose on February 5. But I am not in the business right now of talking about the president. I am going to talk about my mom."

Chelsea declined to comment for this article through Philippe Reines, a senior adviser to the Clinton campaign, citing her long-standing policy not to talk on the record with the media. "This isn't the time or place. This is the time to talk about her mother's views," Reines said.

Chelsea, he added, doesn't consider herself an ambassador of her generation, though the campaign does believe she connects well with young people. Her appeal "is less specific to her peers than to people in their 60s and 40s -- people who are parents and grandparents, and they find her remarkable. . . . They know how hard it is to raise children. When they see someone who conducts themselves so well, they identify with the senator and former president."

Chelsea isn't visiting homeowners' associations, however. She's primarily touring college campuses, where people, for the most part, aren't yet thinking about getting married and raising children. To many, she comes off more like a simulacrum of a young person -- or some grandparent's idealized vision of a young person -- parachuting into the college scene, where most voters prefer the other guy.

She seems to know it, too. In one speech in Indiana, she aimed her pitch directly at students, not their parents: "I couldn't be more proud than to be out talking about why I support my mom, not only because she is my mom, but also as a young voter because I believe that she is the most progressive and most prepared candidate."

But if Chelsea is her mom's pitchwoman for the youth vote, she still has some Facebook friending to do. So far, Sen. Barack Obama has dominated the younger demographic, prevailing by double digits in 24 of the 31 states where exit polling included a large enough sample of 18-29 year olds.

Chelsea's trying, though. She has logged more than 120 flights to visit more than 100 college campuses. Plus, she hosted a gay pub crawl in Philadelphia and a Superbowl party in Fayetteville, Ark., while sporting an Eli Manning jersey. (Yes, her handler keeps these statistics at the ready.)

But is she out of step?

"This younger generation [is reacting] against spin in every aspect of life" said Peter Levine, 41, the director of CIRCLE, a nonprofit group at the University of Maryland that researches young people's civic and political engagement. "They have irony about the powerful, but not idealism. There's no urge to tune out. Rather, you get earnest efforts to do something authentic ."