Matt Baer, 17, is not yet a household name, but his handiwork can be seen on TV news clips and press photos of his candidate, Rick Lazio. Seven nights a week, Baer, a senior at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, marshals his 125-county teen chairpeople by phone and through the Internet.

As New York State teen coordinator for the Lazio campaign, Baer provides each county chairman with enough placards, buttons and even under- voting-age bodies to greet the Republican congressman from Brightwaters, as he swings through the state searching for votes in his race against Hillary Rodham Clinton for U.S. senator.

“What that means is that when Rick appears in Buffalo, there are 20-30 teenagers there holding ‘Lazio for Senator’ signs and cheering his name,” said Baer, an unpaid volunteer.

In the most hotly contested senatorial race in the country, the candidates are increasingly tapping teenagers like Baer to volunteer and help promote their cause. During the campaign, some 200 high school students and 1,800 college students have volunteered for Clinton throughout the state, and 150 teenagers and 1,000 to 1,500 college students for Lazio.

For volunteer Alissa Stollwerk, 16, of Searingtown, during the summer this meant working six hours each day and three hours at night, stuffing envelopes, entering data, lining up Democratic speakers at senior citizen centers from the first lady’s campaign office in Carle Place. “I feel more students should get involved in the election,” the junior at Herricks High School in New Hyde Park said.

“Many of the issues that Hillary is fighting for, such as a woman’s right to choose, keeping out school vouchers and pushing for college tax credits, affect all of us,” Stollwerk said.

Most teenagers seem rather apathetic to the election process, because they can’t vote and don’t pay taxes. “Look, we grew up without a Vietnam, no civil rights protests and lots of prosperity,” Stollwerk said in a recent phone interview. “Because there are no pressing issues affecting young people, they don’t get involved.” The political bug bit Baer at the ripe age of 15, when he worked for New York City councilmen and women running in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. “I would stand outside the 86th Street subway station handing out flyers and screaming for voters to support my candidate,” he said.

Baer says he hopes to be a communications consultant for political candidates when he completes college. “I love campaign ads, speechwriting, policy making and the press,” he said recently at Lazio’s campaign headquarters.

Some student volunteers loved the thrill of working on a campaign and said they’ve learned a lot about politics.

Seventeen-year-old Ken Fomberstein of North Hills spent part of the summer at Clinton campaign offices at Carle Place. A senior at Great Neck South High School, he answered phones, stuffed envelopes and passed out literature at Long Island Rail Road stations and at street fairs. “I got to understand how politics worked in Long Island,” he said.

“Local candidates would call at the campaign office. Today, I read the newspapers more and understand how the political process works here. I know a lot more about what goes on in my local community and what the issues are,” he said. “At school, we operate in an academic environment. We don’t see much of what happens in Washington and how it affects us in Long Island.” Alan Medvin, 17, of Roslyn, commutes as much as he can to the Lazio campaign offices in New York City to give his support. The Roslyn High School senior met the first lady last year when she visited his school. “I disagreed with her belief that the only way of fixing the school problems was giving more money for teachers,” he said. “Education dollars should be spent on frequent testing of teachers and students. Mr. Lazio impressed me with his tax policies.

Money for school vouchers and his social policies are more in line with mine.” For Sarah Park, 17, a student at Bronx High School of Science, working on the campaign meant breaking out of her shell. “I was quiet and shy before I volunteered to answer phones for Mr. Lazio,” Park said. “We work as a team and I learned to become more assertive answering the phones.” Recently, Park started the Young Republican Club at her school, which is primarily composed of Democrats. “I guess I am in the political process. Today I am more confident about who I am,” Park said.