Yep, interesting article. The Bush campaign came through on their ground game. The memories of the Gore campaign, and how he beat Bush in the ground game, were etched in their memories banks, like the faces on Mount Rushmore. Not again, said Rove. Don't make the same mistake twice.
Rove's biggest gamble was on unpaid volunteers. They came through. Big.
It wasn't just to save money. Their belief was that committed volunteers soliciting votes from friends and neighbors would be more effective than paid workers doing the usual "knock and drag" routine.