'Drudge' work may be deciding factor in recall

SACRAMENTO ? When Sharon Velasco walked into the tiny, disheveled offices of this town's AFL-CIO this week, Ali Cooper pounced as if he'd been waiting all day for this 53-year-old grandmother of four to show up.

In fact, Cooper ? the labor group's political director ? had never heard of Velasco. But when he learned that the former electrician wanted to help fight the recall of Gov. Gray Davis, he was ready ? with phone lists, campaign literature, a soda and a little white phone that would be Velasco's companion for several hours as she called home after home urging people to vote "no" in Tuesday's recall election.

Consider Cooper's operation just one molecule in a larger organism that has been working day and night to make sure California voters 1) know there is an election tomorrow, 2) get to the polls and 3) vote the way various interest groups ? from labor unions to political parties to candidates' campaigns ? want them to vote.

Experts view the get-out-the-vote efforts as critical ? perhaps more influential than appearances on Oprah or multimillion-dollar TV ads. With a compressed campaign and complex ballot, the "drudge" work of campaigning ? telephoning voters, visiting their homes, leaving fliers on doorknobs ? could determine whether Davis is ousted, and who replaces him if he is.

"In a traditional election, we have a lot more time to register people (to vote) and to educate voters," said Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College. "This election, everything is so compressed that . . . voters need some help."

The political realities of this election have heightened the role of the political activists who energize voters one at a time ? house-by-house.

Because the young men most likely to support recall candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger are also among the least likely to vote, the California Republican Party is making a special effort to get them to polls to cast votes for the movie actor.

"Part of the message we're trying to convey this week is that the people who generated such excitement behind (Schwarzenegger) ? people who don't vote very often ? should be sure to go to the polls," said state party spokesman Mike Wintemute, who said late last week the state GOP was mailing voting reminders to 2 million homes.

Because Republicans are more likely than Democrats to vote, Davis must depend on the motivating efforts of the California Democratic Party and other typically Democratic groups, such as unions and environmentalists. So must Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the only Democrat running to replace Davis, because history demonstrates voters tend to overlook replacement candidates on a recall ballot.

At more than 60 phone banks statewide, volunteers are furiously trying to reach more than 650,000 Democratic households. From Saturday through tomorrow, the party will have more than 15,000 volunteers visiting homes, and planned to distribute more than 2.7 million pieces of mail.

Conventional wisdom says that who actually votes election day can sway the outcome by as much as 5 percentage points. Thus, many of these "grass-roots" efforts are aimed at those who vote sporadically.

"Most people already know about this election, so the ground operation is targeted at people who are not regular voters, people we need to get to the polls," said Bob Mulholland, a consultant to the state Democratic Party.

...Bob Mulholland, a consultant to the state Democratic Party.

So the party let Bullsh*t-Bob talk to the press again. I didn't think they would let him near a media source until after the election due to his little screw up a few weeks ago.

2 posted on 10/06/2003 11:06:02 AM PDT by Orangedog (Soccer-Moms are the biggest threat to your freedoms and the republic !)

A Recall AND a Fundraiser? I'm toast.

Let's get this over with FAST. Please contribute!

3 posted on 10/06/2003 11:07:14 AM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)

I really hope that the Republicans are not just relying on mail out reminders when the Dems are going to be having rides, telephone calls, cigarrettes, hamburgers, cash etc...

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