Click here to watch "It Could Happen To You."

Every election cycle raises the same fundamental question about young voters: Will they matter this time around? While turnout among this bloc was up in this year's primaries -- 6.5 million people between the ages of 18 and 30 voted, nearly doubling results from the 2000 election -- experts debate whether this will be the year of the youth vote.

Barack Obama's own youth and outsider message seem to resonate with those under 30, and he holds a strong lead there, 61 percent to John McCain's 31 percent, according to Gallup. But partisans from both sides are expanding efforts to reach out to young voters, and the GOP is by no means ceding this group to the Illinois senator.

MTV has created a new opening for those trying to reach young people this year by overturning its 27-year ban on political advertising. Jeannie Kedas, executive vice president of communications for MTV, said that, "given that the youth vote has been increasingly engaged in the election this year and has played a growing role," the network decided it was time to take a second look at its advertising policy.

The network also thought it would complement their Choose or Lose initiative, a get-out-the-vote effort the network has sponsored every election year since 1992. According to Kedas, the network will accept ads from candidates and party committees and will consider third-party ads on a case-by-case basis.

Ads from two outside groups hit the air recently; both took Obama as their subject, although that was about the only thing they had in common politically.

Let Freedom Ring, a conservative advocacy nonprofit, became the first group to take advantage of MTV's opening, launching an attack against Obama late last week. In "Both Ways Barack," (subscription), an announcer says that Obama's not a flip-flopper -- "flip-floppers only hold one position at a time." The ad goes on to cite handgun policy, campaign financing and Iraq as areas where the Democratic candidate has made contradictory statements.

The spot debuted on VH1, MSNBC, CNN and Fox News on Tuesday and was then released on MTV Wednesday. Let Freedom Ring President Colin Hanna told MTV News that the group did not make a concerted effort to run the first political ad on the network, but that he was pleased to be "breaking the mold." He also acknowledged that targeting MTV was an effort to reach out to a different audience and said that if he had the ad buy to do over again, he might have opted to spend more resources there than on Fox News. "We want to go after people who are in the political middle and are not fully committed on this race," he said.

MoveOn.org, which has endorsed Obama, responded Monday by releasing a pro-Obama ad on MTV and Comedy Central, both owned by Viacom. "It Could Happen To You," (subscription) spoofs public service announcements to "warn" young people that supporting Obama could lead them to regain a sense of hope. "I never thought it could happen to me," a young man says. "I have hope," another reveals.

The ad features actors Rider Strong of "Boy Meets World" and Amber Benson of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and was voted the funniest video in MoveOn's "Obama In 30 Seconds" ad contest. MoveOn is spending $150,000 to run the spot for one week.

"It Could Happen To You" is reported to be the first political ad to run on Comedy Central, home to faux-news shows, "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," where a sizable number of young people turn to get their political information. "I think that the campaigns are smart to pay special attention to reaching out to young people," Kedas said.

Neither the McCain or Obama campaign has yet announced plans to purchase time on MTV.