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Pep talks given to ground troops; record voter turnout expectedNov 01, 2008 (The Times-Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The message from the Democratic officials to the gathered party faithful was as clear as the weather at Courthouse Square on Friday: Don't stop working until the election is over. Mayor Chris Doherty reminded the group, "If we don't vote, we won't win," while U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-11, recommended "really minimal sleep" until Election Day. "Make every phone call, knock on every door," Gov. Ed Rendell said. "Don't leave one vote out there." Area Democrats and Republicans have begun the final phase of the presidential campaign -- the push to convince undecided voters to commit to their candidates and to motivate committed voters to get to the polls. Lackawanna County election officials expect record turnout on Tuesday, and local organizers for the McCain and Obama campaigns have begun to implement their strategies to make sure their voters show up. With more than twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans in Lackawanna County, the local campaign for Sen. John McCain is counting on "nontraditional" Republican voters, especially former supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton, to carry their candidate on Election Day. Volunteers working in the Democrats for McCain office on North Main Avenue are specifically targeting Democrats and independents. This weekend, they expect reinforcements: Buses of Hillary supporters will be arriving from Ohio, New Jersey and New York to help canvass and make phone calls for Mr. McCain, the group's director, Carol Oleski, said. She finds that non-Republicans can be convinced by her group's like-minded appeal, even as she works closely with the local McCain campaign. "They reach out to voters who might be scared of the Republican name," local McCain organizer Jason Mock said. The Obama campaign is appealing to voters with a vast network of volunteers -- they have more than 100,000 in the state -- as well as an array of internet tools. The campaign's Web site connects volunteers to specific tasks and cities where they can help, encourages supporters to canvass in their own neighborhoods and provides information about Sen. Barack Obama's positions on issues. The campaign touts its ability to leverage people who identify with specific groups -- veterans, women, Catholics -- to appeal to others with similar priorities. "It's a grassroots campaign that gives people the resources they need to reach out to others in the cause for change," regional Obama spokeswoman Ellen Mellody said. Even as the campaign has embraced new technologies -- it interacts with supporters through Facebook, by text message, on YouTube videos and at the Flickr photo site -- it depends most on the traditional tactics of calling voters and canvassing neighborhoods. After Friday's rally on Courthouse Square, volunteers filled the Wyoming Avenue phone bank to invite voters to another rally on Sunday. Sandra Lesch, an attorney from Connecticut, was on her second trip to the city to volunteer. Campaign organizers had contacted her to ask if she wanted to come to a state that is "more of a race," she said. "I'm a very small part of this organization," she said, "but I will do anything I can to get Obama and (his running-mate Sen. Joe) Biden elected." At the local McCain headquarters on Lackawanna Avenue on Thursday, volunteers also courted voters by phone. Although they are outpaced by the Obama campaign in terms of numbers of volunteers, they tout the high-tech tools that make their get-out-the-vote operation more efficient. The desks snaking along the campaign office walls are dotted with 40 Voice over Internet Protocol phones -- special phones with small computer screens that are linked directly to the campaign's voter database. A volunteer calls a voter, asks a question programmed into the phone -- on Thursday, it was if Mr. McCain and his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin can count on the voter's support on Election Day -- then presses a button near the computer screen to record the response. The process eliminates paper and shortens the amount of time organizers spend uploading information into a database. "It's faster," said volunteer Kim DeMatteo-MacDonald, who used cell phones and paper during the earliest part of the campaign. She dialed the next number on her list. "Good afternoon. Is Stacy there?" she asked, then apologized and hung up. "Wrong number," she said, and punched the button on her phone to indicate the dead end. "We just keep refining our list," Mr. Mock, the organizer, said. "Refining, but also expanding." The McCain campaign uses the information collected during the calls to determine the mail they send to specific voters, the appeal they make when they knock on those voters' doors and how many votes to expect on Tuesday. "Right now, it's are they supporting John McCain and Sarah Palin," Mr. Mock said. "It's a numbers game. We want to know what our numbers are." Both campaigns emphasize the importance of direct voter contact in convincing people to get to the polls on Election Day. At the root of the local McCain campaign, and the local Obama campaign, is a push to connect with people personally. "A lot of people are just looking for that hand to be extended," Mr. Mock said. In that way, a phone call or a canvassing visit is better than a television ad, he said. "Everybody wants to be wanted." Contact the writer: [email protected] To see more of The Times-Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/. Copyright (c) 2008, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |