By Joe Hanel
LAKEWOOD - Here's what's going on right now in campaign offices across the country.
In the Democratic field office in Lakewood - one of more than 40 across Colorado - a map marks the 19 precincts that this office covers. Each precinct will be canvassed three times today by volunteers. Their job is to get friendly voters to the polls.
The office supervisors already know exactly which voters in their precincts have voted early, and they're getting live updates throughout the day from their local polling places on which voters have cast ballots.
They have divided each precinct into 'turfs' for canvass teams. At 11 a.m., volunteers were just leaving on their second canvass shift. In an adjacent room, another set of volunteers is making phone calls to voters.
Still more volunteers are assembling sack lunches for the crew. Volunteers returning from the morning shift take a seat on the floor to fill out their reports.
As the noon hour approaches, organizers are assembling 'comfort teams' to take water and other necessities to voters stuck in long lines.
Republicans are doing this, too. In fact, the GOP ground operation in Ohio in 2004 is widely credited for swinging that state to President Bush.
The McCain-Palin campaign has 12 such offices open around Colorado. Still, it's a far cry from Obama's 40-plus.
Senate candidate Mark Udall visited the Lakewood office this morning. He's seen his share of Colorado campaigns, but never anything quite like this.
Udall compared the Obama organization to a large, decentralized computer network like the Internet. "In that, I think it really mirrors our times," he said.
With so many offices, local volunteers find it easier to get involved, he said. In the Lakewood office, many volunteers were college-aged, but many others were taking the day off work or were retired.
"I think it's one of the secrets of Barack Obama's success. He's run a 21st century campaign," Udall said.
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