Pumping the base
Of course, those Independents might split down the middle this November, and New Hampshire might once again be decided by a few thousand votes. Unlike previous years, however, the outcome in that event is not being left to chance.
Observers say that the Granite State has never experienced anything like the massive campaign operations being built by both sides this year.
The candidate visits are designed in large part to prod supporters to volunteer, and there are ample opportunities for them to help. House-to-house canvassing and phone calling is taking place continually — US Senators from Rhode Island (Sheldon Whitehouse) and Vermont (Patrick Leahy) came in this past weekend to help canvas for Obama, and the campaign’s regular Wednesday-night women’s phone-bank effort has been a big hit.
Obama’s New Hampshire operation is, like his effort nationally, unbelievably sophisticated. “Mark my words,” Biden told the Nashua crowd, “[political science] students 15 years from now will be reading about the greatest field operation in history, the way we read about JFK’s field operation.”
That includes a voter-contact database that is quickly becoming legendary in political circles for its breadth, depth, and interactive utility (if you’ve gotten an e-mail from the Obama campaign perfectly attuned to your interests, this is why), as well as on-the-ground presence. The campaign is split into several sub-levels (to take advantage of different funding streams), but they are all tightly coordinated. First there is Obama’s campaign staff. Then there is the “Campaign for Change” staff, funded through the Democratic National Committee (for which Obama raises money in larger donations than he is legally allowed to accept for his own committee). That campaign has 16 offices open in New Hampshire, according to Obama’s state spokesperson, Sandra Abrevaya. The state party also has nearly two dozen offices there. The campaign will not disclose the total number of paid staff working specifically on Obama’s campaign in New Hampshire, but estimates run as high as 100.
“One of the great benefits of having been through such a titanic primary contest,” says Axelrod, “is that we’ve built up a tremendous ground game.”
The Democrats’ sophisticated field operation is allowing for much more cooperation and communication among the various levels of campaigning in the state, says Hassan. People going door-to-door for local and state races are also gathering information for the Obama campaign; the national campaigns are providing useful information and resources to the down-ticket candidates.
That said, McCain has been building a Granite State operation for a decade. He, too, has a national-party operation, called Victory 2008, which has five offices open in New Hampshire. “There is an unprecedented amount of resources going into the state,” says Abrevaya.
Outside groups are also geared up — the New Hampshire AFL-CIO is doing its largest member-to-member outreach project ever, and is phone-banking almost daily.
On the right, the Palin pick seems to have prompted outside groups to step up their involvement. The National Rifle Association — which has a huge voter database in the state and is extremely influential — has never much cared for McCain (whose campaign-finance reform severely restricted political fundraising and spending by groups like the NRA), and had done little for him in New Hampshire. But this month, after the Republican convention, the organization mailed an anti-Obama piece to its Granite State members.
