Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks to a studio audience Saturday at MTV Studios in New York.

New York ? Democrat Barack Obama told young voters Saturday his multicultural background lets him “see through the eyes of other people” abroad in ways another president could not. Closer to home – and student pocketbooks – rival Hillary Clinton spoke of aggressive steps to make college affordable.

The two Democrats and Republicans Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul joined in a youth-oriented forum sponsored by MTV, The Associated Press and MySpace, each fielding questions separately by satellite. In perhaps a sign of Obama’s strength with young people, both Clinton and Huckabee were asked not just about themselves, but about him.

Clinton, asked what Obama symbolized in the contest, said she and her rival together “represent such a sea change in America” – one bidding to become the first female president, the other wanting to be the first black president. “Whichever of us gets the nomination, we are making history,” she said, before rapidly asserting she is the best equipped to lead.

Equally mindful of history, Obama declared the contest is not about the race or the sex of the candidates. If it were just about his race, he said, “I wouldn’t have to answer questions. I could just show up.”

Obama, an Illinois senator, asked young voters concerned about America’s place in the world to judge him on his record of standing against the Iraq war and on his background as the son of a Kenyan father and mother from Kansas. He noted his schooldays in Indonesia.

“If I convene a meeting of Muslim leaders to try to bridge the divide between Islam and the West, I do so with the credibility of someone who lived in a Muslim country for four years when I was a child,” he said. “And although I’m a Christian I have a sense of that culture.”

Clinton emphasized college affordability in response to a question, and outlined her proposals to help students pay off debt with national service, to increase Pell grants and to sweeten other college aid.

Huckabee, opening the forum, complained that he always gets “the God questions” when he’d rather be talking about public policy, and denied there’s any conflict between his faith and the right things to do as president.

The former Baptist preacher was asked if he would be capable of making decisions in the Oval Office that might be at odds with his religion.

“There’s not this glaring conflict,” he said. “Faith helps me to understand what is right.”

Religious conservatives have provided much of Huckabee’s support and he’s not been shy about courting them.

“I always get asked the God questions,” he said, adding that “it’s really been frustrating” that people don’t want to know more about his work as Arkansas governor.

Paul told the forum he opposed U.S. intervention in Sudan’s Darfur region and placed little faith in the ability of the United Nations to relieve the crisis there.