Though opposite in their political beliefs, Bouchard and Paduchik share a common stripe in the profession of politics. Historically, field organization is the rump end of the campaign horse -- neither as lucrative, nor as glamorous, as other specialties such as media consulting and polling that attract more attention in news coverage of campaigns, and from candidates themselves.
"It's not really sexy," Paduchik acknowledged of his field operation, with a smile. Others in politics "think of us as the ground-pounders -- the infantry -- people who don't do a lot of thinking."
Paduchik's Ohio roots set him apart from the leaders of the Kerry and ACT ground operations. In part because Democrats have fared so poorly in Ohio statewide elections over the past dozen years, the party now typically imports its political talent for presidential elections. Kerry's Poersch, who helped run the state for Al Gore in 2000, is on leave from his job as chief of staff to Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.). ACT's Bouchard, whose wife and children are back home in Northern Virginia, is a New Hampshire native who has run field operations for former presidential candidate Wesley K. Clark and Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner.
There remain plenty of agnostics among Ohio political experts, some of whom are skeptical about the impact of a ground operation on an election's outcome in a large state. The most important factors, by this reckoning, will continue as in earlier years to be the ads voters see on television, and larger dynamics that will play out nationally -- which this year include events in Iraq and the debates.
"Every election year, there's a claim that an unprecedented level of new voters will be brought out," said Eric W. Rademacher, co-director of the University of Cincinnati's Ohio Poll. He noted that usually such pre-election boasts fall flat. This year, he added, he is confident the ground organizing on both sides "will eclipse any previous efforts," but he said that from a pollster's "analytic standpoint, the real question is, 'Will one side do a better job?' "
Democrats believe they have the edge. ACT said it has registered 88,000 people in Ohio, and that its partners in a coalition of dozens of liberal groups known as America Votes have brought in 215,000 more, for a total of about 300,000, ACT Ohio spokesman Jess Goode said. In the days after Paduchik made his boast of 175,000 new voters, Republicans say they added about 25,000 more. Registering is an easy task in Ohio; more than 7.5 million of Ohio's 8.1 million voting age residents have done it.
Voter registration, however, is only one part of field work. Kerry's Ohio campaign, according to people working on it, has done little voter registration, aware that independent groups such as labor unions, MoveOn.org and ACT are targeting Democratic precincts for this. But Kerry's campaign, though it was far later in hiring staff and getting organized than Bush's, has come alive in recent months. In coordination with the state and national Democratic parties, the campaign has hired 77 full-time field organizers. On any given night, about 16,000 Kerry volunteers are working in the state, according to data released by the campaign. At phone banks, these volunteers have called more than 1.8 million voters, and knocked on more than 93,000 doors, the campaign said.
Paduchik's operation cites its own numbers. The Bush campaign says it has recruited 69,000 Ohio volunteers, and has installed precinct chairmen -- in charge of shooing neighbors to the polls -- in each of Ohio's 12,000 precincts. These volunteers have made nearly 1.4 million phone calls and knocked on 225,000 doors as of Friday night.
Although the GOP and Democratic operations use similar tactics of door knocking and phone banks, they do have some important differences in strategy. One is the relative significance they assign to swing voters -- people who have not made up their mind for whom to vote, or who are "soft" in their support. The Bush operation, while making nods to persuading uncommitted voters when it finds them, is fundamentally organized around the traditional field mission of identifying committed supporters and getting them to the polls on Election Day.
The Kerry operation, and to a degree the work at ACT, devotes more effort to voter persuasion. Kerry strategists say their data on uncommitted voters suggest that they are more likely to be younger and female. Once people are identified in databases as potential, but undecided, Kerry voters, the campaign tries to pepper them with calls and visits, which may include the distribution of pamphlets on issues the potential voters have identified as important. Poersch said the sheer number of volunteers available, combined with technological advances in tracking voters, allows field work to devote more effort to uncommitted voters than in years past.
Bouchard said ACT's doorstep interviews highlight the challenge for Democrats in reaching uncommitted voters: how to raise questions about Bush's record, particularly in Iraq, without sounding defeatist. "I do think there's a conflict for people: If you question the war, are you undermining the efforts of our troops?" he said. "We bring a service to undecideds, we're bringing them information."
Some polls suggest there are very few undecideds left. The latest Ohio poll showed an 11-point lead for Bush, with just 1 percent still up for grabs. Other polls have shown the margin tighter.
Poersch said he believes the election is closer than public polls indicate. And he said he keeps his enthusiasm high by focusing on the fundamental faith of all field organizers, that victory will flow inevitably from a certain number of yard signs, door knocks and phone calls. "If we reach our goals," he said, "we win."
