MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Shaun Doherty has a problem. About 250 campaign workers are anxiously waiting for John McCain to arrive at his Manchester campaign headquarters to dispatch battle plans for the week leading up to the New Hampshire Primary.

Doherty is feverishly photocopying a two-page "talking points" memo that each volunteer must have in hand. Suddenly, the copy machine stops working.

Doherty scrambles to find a fix. A few minutes pass before he has the machine humming again.

A campaign crisis narrowly averted? Perhaps.

As Doherty sees it, the little things will be key to helping McCain claim the Republican nomination.

"It really isn't the most glamorous stuff, but that's how you win," says Doherty. "I'm a believer that the technical parts of a campaign are really what wins it. You can only do so much with the message."

At 20 years old, Doherty is the New Hampshire youth chairman for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. The Pelham resident and Rivier College sophomore has been with the campaign since the spring.

The job has taken him around the state, recruiting college students, finding volunteers to house them, and organizing Town Hall events.

On Saturday night, Doherty showed up for McCain's campaign stop at the Londonderry Lions Club to find an empty room staring back at him. After two hours of stacking chairs, hanging flags and plastering campaign signs on walls, the room looks fit for a potential commander-in-chief.

"That's why I want to help, to make those events run smoothly," explains Doherty. "I don't take the job lightly."

Doherty has always viewed politics as serious business, stretching back to his days running for president of his class at Pelham High School. During his two successful campaigns, he spent a few hundred dollars on signs and a Web site promoting his candidacy. He even did his own polling.

"I beat the incumbent, too," boasts Doherty. "She was Miss Teen New Hampshire. That's all in one right there."

Now Doherty is hoping some of his luck will rub off on the Arizona senator. Depending on the poll, McCain is either tied with Mitt Romney for the lead in New Hampshire or trailing the former Massachusetts governor by as many as 10 points.

Still, the campaign has come a long way since the summer, when many pundits declared McCain's candidacy dead. Things were so bad that Doherty was personally recruited by three other Republican candidates, wondering if he'd be interested in jumping ship.

"They said, 'Hey, it looks like McCain is going to drop out. Why don't you join our campaign?' " recalls Doherty. "I said, 'Well, the day McCain drops out, maybe I will. But he's not going to drop out.'"

Inside McCain's headquarters in a renovated mill on Commercial Street, a group of mostly middle-aged male campaign volunteers chat about the necessity of winning New Hampshire.

Young staffers mingle under blue Christmas lights and homemade campaign signs ("Go Johnny Go," Red Sox Fans For McCain," "McCain Our Favorite Maverick") stuck to temporary white walls. A Hillary Clinton doll sits on a desk. A dartboard is in almost every room.

Doherty, sporting a military haircut, blue, button-down shirt and black pants, talks about first meeting McCain in 2000. He was only 11 years old, but he saw a leader.

"Being in New Hampshire, you give everyone a fair chance," says Doherty. "I met every candidate from both parties -- all 18. Clearly, I felt McCain was head and shoulders above the rest in experience and being ready on day one."

After the primary, Doherty will begin focusing on his own political career. He plans to run for state representative from District 27, which is made up of the communities of Pelham, Hudson, and Litchfield, later this year.

If he wins, he hopes he can use his experience in the state legislature as a springboard to a higher office.

"I can't really say what I'd eventually like to run for," admits Doherty. "Whether it might be governor or Congress. But I think being a state rep. is a place where I can use my current knowledge and build on it."