No substitute for face-to-face politics in race
LEESBURG, Virginia (Reuters) - As the presidential election enters its final, frantic stretch, voters in battleground states can expect a knock at the door.
Thousands of volunteers like Gail Wise are going house to house, clipboards in hand, hunting for undecided voters and hoping to ensure supporters turn out for the November 4 election.
On a recent Sunday afternoon, the 62-year-old volunteer for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama approached a man working on a bicycle in his driveway.
"Hi I'm with the Obama campaign, and -"
"I know. Bye," the man said, with a tight smile and a wave of his hand.
Wise thanked him and turned on her heels, marking him down as a strong supporter of Obama's rival, Republican John McCain. With less than two hours until the start of the Washington Redskins pro football game, when families would be less likely to answer the door, she had little time to waste.
New Internet technologies like YouTube and Facebook have played a central role in the 2008 presidential race, but both campaigns know there is no substitute for face-to-face communication -- particularly in the dozen or so "battleground" states such as Virginia where the competition is sharpest.
The Obama campaign says it has signed up 10,000 volunteers and opened 44 field offices in Virginia, a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964.
The McCain campaign has about half that many offices, fewer staffers and a smaller budget. But Republicans say they have seen a surge in volunteers since McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. They're also banking on a superior voter database built painstakingly over the last several elections.
"We really feel we can do more with the same number of volunteers than Obama can," said Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
Door-knocking campaign workers were a staple of U.S. big-city politics in the 19th century, but the modern ground game has only emerged in recent years thanks to databases that allow organizers to home in on voters they deem persuadable.
DOOR KNOCKING MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
A strong canvassing effort can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Republican efforts to mobilize religious conservatives who had sat out the previous election gave President George W. Bush a crucial edge in the 2004 contest against Democrat John Kerry.
Democrats are determined not to let that happen this year.
"I can't live with myself if I'm not doing something more than just going out on election day and voting. That's what's motivating me to step outside of my comfort zone," said Maryland resident Denny Johnson, an Obama volunteer.
On a recent Sunday, Johnson and dozens of other volunteers crowded into a strip-mall storefront for a quick primer on canvassing.
Encourage other Obama supporters to volunteer, a staffer told them, and don't argue with those who back McCain.
Don't worry about memorizing Obama's policy proposals, they were told -- simply explain their reasons for backing the Illinois senator.
"Knocking on one door is like making 14 phone calls. It's the most important thing you can do," the staffer said, before sending the volunteers out to nearby neighborhoods.
Once reliably Republican, the Leesburg area is now prime swing-voter territory, the frontier between the Virginia's Democratic-leaning Washington suburbs and its conservative rural areas. Voters here have been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis and rising gas prices.
"These people who might be economically conservative and willing to vote for a normal Republican are not particularly enamored with what's going on with the economy right now," said George Mason University professor Michael McDonald.
Out in one of those neighborhoods, Gail Wise managed to cover 20 houses, giving the Obama campaign a better sense of its prospects in this corner of the state.
Nobody was home at many of the houses on her list. Others declined to tell her who they planned to vote for, and several said they supported McCain.
But a few leads paid off. Wise talked for several minutes with an undecided woman whose college-age children backed Obama. She encouraged several Obama supporters to volunteer at the local office.
"I never thought I would do it," she said of her door-knocking efforts. "But as I tell people now, it's one of the most fun things to do because people are really excited about this election."
(Editing by David Wiessler)
