After long campaign, young workers ask, what now?

NEW YORK -- The post-election transition is not just tough on politicians. It's also hard on the people who worked tirelessly to get them elected.

Some volunteers say they are experiencing a post-campaign letdown, whether they were winners or losers on Election Day.

Alan Kennedy-Shaffer, 24, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., already misses the campaign trail. He took a semester off from law school at William & Mary to work on the campaigns for President-elect Barack Obama, Mark Warner and Bill Day.

"It's so hard to know what I'll do with myself now that the campaign is over," he said.

After weeks, months or years with a single-minded mission, many dedicated campaign workers and volunteers are feeling lost. Some are left looking for jobs in a tumbling economy.

But mental health professionals say the best way for them to combat letdown is to make a commitment to get involved.

There are still lots of opportunities for people to get involved, whether it's the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps or local service. Many organizations would welcome a campaign volunteer's experience and knowledge, said Ami Dar, executive director of idealist.org.

Obama volunteer Elizabeth Cruikshank, 20, a student at Princeton, said she can see using her passion from the campaign to work on the environment and education issues.

And some volunteers were already working to build and rebuild their parties for future elections.

"OK, we took a beating," said Republican Matthew Hindin, 27, a corporate lawyer in New York who went to street fairs with signs for John McCain. "But we are resilient. We have work to do."

For Lynn Krogh, president of the New York Young Republican Club, that means focusing on next year's mayoral and city council elections.

For Ian Magruder, 18, a freshman at University of California, Berkeley, it's electing a Democratic Governor in 2010.

Alexandra Acker, national executive director for Young Democrats of America, said the organization is working to harness the momentum from an election where passions ran high. The same way the Reagan Administration built a generation of young conservatives in the 80s, "we're hoping to do the same thing now," she said.

Obama volunteer Raven Moeslinger, 21, a senior at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he hopes to bring Obama's ideals to the campus.

But first he's got to get his grades up.

And get a job that pays.