SOUTH BEND — Chelsea Clinton campaigned in South Bend for her mother, Senator Hillary Clinton, to try and reach younger voters. About 500 students from across the area attended the event at the University of Notre Dame Wednesday.

Younger voters have strongly supported Sen. Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton so far, but after listening to Chelsea Clinton Wednesday, some say they're willing to give Hillary Clinton a second look.

Chelsea Clinton faced some tough questions from the audience about her mother's stand on issues ranging from health care to the economy to the war in Iraq.

One student asked whether Hillary Clinton is hurting the party by staying in the race, given that she's behind in the delegate count and mathematically could not catch up.

“You make a lot of assumptions about states that are still to come,” Clinton said to the student. “I don't think people in Indiana want to be told, as a New Yorker, I certainly wouldn't want to be told I didn't matter as much. There are a lot of voices to be heard, and a lot of votes still to be counted.”

Clinton was also asked how her mother can overcome Barack Obama's appeal with younger voters.

“One of the areas where I think my mom is particularly more progressive is college and graduate school affordability,” Clinton said.

A number of students were impressed by Clinton and her command of the issues.

“I thought it was very informative,” said Lauren Kopsky, a Notre Dame student. “She handled a wide variety of questions and I thought she really did a good job with explaining why, as a younger person, she supports her mom.”

“She definitely really knew her stuff on the issues and I don't know if it really changed my mind, but it definitely made me more open to, I think, the idea of Clinton,” said Katie Mullen, a Notre Dame student.

The students also said they would like to see Barack Obama campaign in the area. A spokesman says he plans to campaign vigorously in Indiana, but no specifics have been announced yet.