It was a phrase that any political junkie could appreciate.

A day after returning from a politics-watching trip to Delaware, Brigham Young University political science professor Quin Monson exclaimed: "It's beautiful, it's negative, it's funny and it's intense."

In other words, politics at its best.

Those words rang true with the 30 or so poli-sci students crammed around a table listening to a lecture about campaigning and voter turnout.

Over the past three months, they've received a crash course in the sometimes negative, often comical science behind campaign strategy and its effect on public opinion.

Tuesday, all that studying will be put to the test as the students lead the only statewide, student-run exit poll in the country.

"It's like the Super Bowl for all the political science junkies," said student Seth Dilworth, who will help handle crises that arise while polling.

Nearly 1,000 other student volunteers from eight Utah colleges and universities also will contribute to the cause. About 550 are from BYU, 200 of which are political science students who will compile data gathered from 90 polling places in 20 counties.

"This becomes a very exciting experience for the students because it takes them out of the classroom and presents aspects of statistical research that they would never encounter in a textbook," said Howard Christensen, chair of the BYU Department of Statistics.

That's why, 22 years ago, Christensen joined with David B. Magleby, dean of the College of Family, Home and Social Sciences, to start student-run exit polling at BYU.

It's a "real-world" educational experience.

"This matters," said student Baxter Oliphant. "This is real-world, real-life, get-your-hands-dirty work."

It's also on a par with the predictions of professional pollsters, say Christensen and Monson.

"I think the quality is every bit as professional as any effort you get out of a full-sized public opinion firm and maybe more so," said Monson.

"Historically, our results have been very robust over time," added Christensen. "The others who will be doing exit polls in the state do not cover as many polling places as we do, and will not interview as many people as we do."

The sample size for the BYU pollsters will range from about 6,000 to 7,000 Utah voters. Before making a prediction about what candidate will win, students will wait until they are 99 percent sure of the results.

"Most use a 95 percent level of confidence when they make predictions," said Kelly Patterson, director of the BYU Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy and co-director of the political science exit poll class.

"When we make our calls, we make sure we are 99 percent right, he added. "[Our statistics students] keep us honest. They won't let us cheat. They always want one more check."

Here's how the process works:

Tonight and tomorrow, students will be deployed to polling places from Sanpete and Juab counties to Iron, Cache and Carbon.

They've been trained to ask election judges for permission to discreetly ask exiting voters to fill out a brief questionnaire. Statistics students like Ross Larsen, Shayla Steed and Matt Poulton have worked for three months to determine the number of people who will be questioned and where.

Throughout the day, pollsters will call in results to statistics students gathered around computers at BYU. Deeptehi Rajeeb and Jonathan Wunderlich are two post-graduate statistics students who will monitor data entry and handle crises and "no response" questionnaires.

After the polls close at 8 p.m., results of the exit poll will be announced live on KBYU, channel 11.

nwarburton@sltrib.com

What's an exit poll?

A brief questionnaire filled out by voters after they leave polling places. Questions are asked about which candidates, initiatives and amendments the voter cast a ballot for. This type of polling is thought to be more accurate than polls taken before the election, because voters have already cast ballots and made a commitment to a particular candidate or issue.

For more information about exit polling and the Brigham Young University exit poll, visit: http://exitpoll.byu.edu

On election night, The Salt Lake Tribune will post predictions from the Brigham Young University exit poll on its Web site, http://www.sltrib.com. Predictions will be posted starting at 8 p.m.