Obama Battles Block by Block to Get Voters to Polls

By JEFF ZELENY
NYT

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Lukas McGowan was sitting in an old barber’s chair, a cellphone pressed to his ear, as he contemplated a critical assignment for the closing chapter of the presidential campaign: the ground game.

The most pressing matter inside this field office for Senator Barack Obama was not the next debate or the latest scorching exchange with Senator John McCain, but getting every possible voter to the polls. As Mr. McGowan surveyed an assembly line of activity, a more immediate question popped into his mind: Have all the spots been filled in the 6 to 8 p.m. shift for walking neighborhood precincts?

“When we identify sporadic voters, we want to go back to their house until they can’t stand us anymore,” said Mr. McGowan, 23, who oversees the Obama operation in Fairfax County, Virginia’s largest. With a smile, he added, “As long as we’re kind and respectful.”

If the primary race was an experiment in building the capacity of the Obama organization, the general election will show whether a political campaign has the ability to change the electoral map.

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