Campaigns rush, rush, rush

By J. Patrick Coolican

Monday, Dec. 10, 2007 | 7:06 a.m.

While Americans gawked at Oprah Winfrey's embrace in other early presidential primary states of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic campaigns in Nevada continued working furiously, if often out of public view.

The only thing a campaign can never buy is time, and with fewer than six weeks until the Jan. 19 presidential caucus, they are working hard to identify supporters and give them the drumbeat: You must appear in person at your caucus site for your vote to be counted.

Genie Lopez, a volunteer for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, helped organize a Saturday meeting for 10 supporters at the Sahara West Library, her twin teenage girls in tow. Between her four children and job managing a medical office, she puts in three to 10 hours a week, canvassing with her new friend - they met volunteering - Teresa Manix.

Brynne Craig, a recent Smith College graduate working for Clinton since June, kept the message simple: Show up at 11 a.m. on Jan. 19, stand with the other Clinton people. Simple as that.

She passed out pledge cards and asked for signatures.

Signing the cards amounts to a kind of commitment ceremony: I will caucus for Clinton. All the campaigns use them. They allow them to track support and remind backers to be there on time, while also, by dint of the signature, providing a psychological push. People who sign are 80 percent more likely to caucus, Craig said.

The Clinton campaign held 25 such meetings over the weekend.

The key to winning a caucus is commitment, so the campaign loved sharing an anecdote. When the power went out at the office in Reno, volunteers continued making calls - by flashlight.

The Obama campaign was also busy. Jason Green, a regional field director, made remarks at Unity Baptist Church, a predominantly black church whose pastor, the Rev. Raymond Giddens Sr., expressed support for Obama's campaign and urged the congregation to attend the caucus.

Later in the day, John Gilbert, a field organizer, schooled about a dozen Obama volunteers before they went out to knock on doors in North Las Vegas. He instructed the volunteers in an all-important rating system, from 1 to 6. A 1 level supporter is someone who has signed a pledge card, a 2 is a strong supporter, a 2.5 is leaning for Obama, a 3 is undecided and so on. The volunteers must track their encounters so the campaign can strategize.

One trick they're using with undecideds: handing out an Obama DVD with career highlights and speeches.

Green finished Gilbert's presentation by thanking the volunteers before offering some stirring rhetoric. "We are changing the world, one voter contact at a time," he said.

All told, the Obama campaign said 500 volunteers statewide hit 15,000 doors over the weekend, or 30 per person, meaning they at least dropped literature there, even if no one was home.

The Obama campaign also had to prepare for the candidate, who is in Las Vegas for a private roundtable with some residents in a made-for-media event.

The campaign of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was busy training newly hired staff over the weekend and preparing for its big canvas next weekend, when 400 volunteers will go to 15,000 doors. They made more than 1,000 face-to-face contacts this weekend, said Adam Bozzi, a spokesman.

The scrappy campaign of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson received a boost with a Saturday visit from the candidate and his wife, as well as a key endorsement.

At a state Democratic Party mock caucus aimed at Hispanics, Richardson's wife, Barbara Richardson, who's been largely absent from the campaign trail, described herself as a private person leading a public life. She said she's convinced that no one in the race on either side has done more for the public welfare than her husband during the past 25 years.

It's a compelling case, given Richardson's resume. He has served in Congress and was ambassador to the United Nations and the secretary of energy before becoming a governor who enjoys a 70 percent approval rating.

In a speech lacking his trademark jocularity, Richardson implored the contenders to run a positive, optimistic campaign and avoid personal attacks. It's an approach that continues to fuel speculation that he's angling for the vice presidency.

He repeated a phrase that has become a rallying cry among his anti-war supporters, that America shouldn't be the policeman of the world, but the "conscience of the world."

The Richardson campaign also announced the endorsement of state Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas. The endorsement was somewhat of a surprise given Carlton's membership in Culinary Union Local 226, the 60,000-member union that hasn't backed a presidential candidate yet but will likely do so after the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus.

Carlton said she was endorsing not as a union member, but as a state senator. She said she was impressed by Richardson's resume, his policy proposals and his passion.

"In the end, you have to go with your gut," she said.