Canvassers Make a Final Frantic Push in Iowa

(Chris Hondros - Getty Images)

On New Year's Eve, the campaign sponsored a concert and free bowling at Carroll Bowl. About 100 young people, mostly college and high school students, showed up to see actor Kal Penn and musician Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes.

Twenty-five people signed Obama supporter cards.

At Clinton headquarters, David Mercer was focused on details. A Democratic strategist who arrived from Washington to help the campaign, he described the task of matching drivers with people who need rides, a group that make up about 20 percent of Clinton's supporters.

"The best driver is the person down the street who is picking up her aunt or the neighbor and knows the way," Mercer said. "The operative terms are anticipation and leaving nothing to chance."

Guy, the Precinct 1 captain for Clinton, dialed supporters on newly updated lists.

"If they were leaning towards Edwards or something, I tried to convince them," she said. "I told people to come early because parking might be a problem. And I said to bring a friend."

Guy is a caucus lifer who has supported Republican Pat Buchanan and Democrats Jimmy Carter and John F. Kerry. She fits a profile of experience more often attributed to activists working for former senator John Edwards of North Carolina. Specialists think veterans offer an advantage during the fluid cacophony of caucus night.

Some things, Guy has learned, she cannot control. One supporter will miss the caucus for a funeral. Several others have health complaints that will keep them away. But she will keep plugging.

So will Loneman, who persuaded a friend to drive home from Nebraska to caucus. He also worked on his mother, whom he described as a "die-hard conservative" who voted twice for George W. Bush. She finally promised to caucus for Obama if Loneman would accompany her to the Disney movie "Enchanted."

He saw the movie and survived it, mindful of the payoff when the caucus doors close.