The Ohio campaigns of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry say that the remaining days of the election will put to the test each side’s boast of having the better grass-roots organization.
The Kerry camp says it has 260 full-time paid workers in Ohio, compared to 150 employed by the combined organizations of Mr. Bush and the Ohio Republican Party. Pro-Kerry forces also assert superiority in total volunteers in Ohio — 100,000 compared to 78,000 for Mr. Bush.
The Kerry campaign and outside groups supporting the Massachusetts Democrat also say they’ve outspent the Bush effort in TV advertising in recent weeks. In the week of Oct. 11, Mr. Kerry had $1.7 million in ads on the air versus $1.2 million for Mr. Bush, Kerry Ohio spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said.
“We believe we are beating them in terms of phone calls and door-to-door canvassing,” said Miss Palmieri. “We have 25,000 volunteers a night making calls, up from 16,000 in September.”
Ohio Republican Party Chairman Robert T. Bennett says the state GOP has an edge in having extended to 96 hours the Bush national campaign’s 72-hour task force, designed to get out the vote in the last three days before the election. The 72-hour task force was credited with helping Republicans make unprecedented gains in the 2002 congressional elections.
Democrats are conducting training efforts to show voters what to expect at the polling places. Last weekend, as part of its get-out-the-vote effort, the Kerry campaign distributed “how-to” literature in counties with punch-card ballots.
Most counties in Ohio still use punch-card machines like those that led to the infamous “hanging chad” situation in Florida four years ago. To prevent a repeat of that problem in Ohio this year, the Kerry campaign purchased eight punch-ballot machines for how-to-vote demonstrations in key precincts.
The Kerry campaign is also using phone banks to tell voters the “do’s and don’ts” on Election Day. The GOP has no comparable effort.
The Kerry campaign claims about 23,000 people volunteering on Election Day to drive voters to the polls, make telephone calls and knock on doors to remind them to vote — and a “transportation czar” to make sure it has enough rental cars and vans to get its voters to the polls. The GOP says it has no such czar, but will have 400 vans available.
The Kerry team also has a statewide food czar making sure snacks are available at polling places in case of long lines. Again, the Bush campaign has no similar plan.
Mr. Kerry’s organization also has purchased 50,000 ponchos to pass out to voters in Democratic precincts in case of rain, while the Bush campaign says it has 5,000 “fleece jackets to pass out in case it’s cold.”
Both sides are issuing warnings of a delayed final count because of expected challenges at the polls and charges of voting irregularities.
“Ohio has as good a chance as any of not being decided for several days after the election because of election fraud,” said Jason Mauk, an Ohio Republican spokesman.
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