Virginia Governor's Race Tightest In Years

"It's not about the last few days of the campaign," said Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who visited Kilgore phone banks in Fredericksburg and Stafford yesterday. "It's about starting a year before the election to . . . build up that database."

The GOP Effort

Like the Democrats, Republicans say their get-out-the-vote, or GOTV, plans are secret. In a race this close, they say, every little advantage helps. And there's no advantage in telling your opponent where you plan to look for your best voters.

"Millions" is all Kilgore campaign manager Ken Hutcheson says when asked how much money his campaign is spending on turnout efforts. Overall, his campaign has raised $22 million, more than any governor's campaign in state history.

But Kilgore and his campaign aides say their efforts are modeled on those Bush employed to drive new voters to the polls in 2004. Experts say that both parties did a good job of turnout in that election but that Republicans were better.

"We've ramped up our efforts in Virginia to make sure we ... find all those like-minded voters who might not otherwise get out to the polls," Kilgore said. "We know how to find our voters."

Mehlman, who led the Bush turnout effort, is helping to coordinate a similar one for Kilgore. The Virginia campaign has had almost 10,000 volunteers working at points throughout the year, Hutcheson said. They've identified 2 million voters who are likely to vote for Kilgore, and they've touched 1.5 million of them with 1,215,137 phone calls and 277,016 doors knocked on.

The key, Republican sources said, is to target voters in places Republicans normally don't go. Past campaigns would not have spent time trying to turn out a precinct in Alexandria where 80 percent of the households are Democrats. Now, with the new databases, they can target the 20 percent who are likely to vote Republican.

Even Democrats are impressed -- and a bit worried.

"The Republicans do a good job of identifying the vote and making sure it gets delivered on Election Day," said Rep. Rick Boucher (D). In his southwest Virginia district in 2004, Boucher said, "I think they got just about every Bush vote available."

The Democratic Effort

Teachers, firefighters and other unionized workers have begun fanning out across Virginia, knocking on doors and making phone calls.

The mobile unit for the Service Employees International Union, a purple tractor-trailer, sits behind the McLean headquarters for the Democratic get-out-the-vote effort, a sign of the important role that unions play for Kaine.

"This is going to be a squeaker, and it will all come down to turnout," said Daniel G. LeBlanc, the president of the Virginia AFL-CIO. LeBlanc said he is personally committed to getting 25 people to vote for Kaine. "We've worked shoulder to shoulder with Governor Warner, so it is natural for us to support Kaine."