Most Congested Route? This Week, D.C. to Pa.

Area Residents Show Their Political Drive

The Northern Virginia women had driven 150 miles, defied a brewing thunderstorm and set out afoot in an unfamiliar Philadelphia suburb called Glenside, population 8,000.

Their mission: Find Barack Obama supporters -- or folks who could be.

Janet Nuzum of Arlington County and Veronica Richardson of Alexandria approached a two-story brick rowhouse and knocked.

"Hi. We are with the Barack Obama campaign," Nuzum told the man who answered.

"Not interested," he replied, slamming the door. It took several more houses before they found someone committed to Obama.

"The hardest part is when people don't want to have any conversation," Nuzum said.

Hundreds of political volunteers from the Washington area have put their jobs on hold and left their families behind to visit Pennsylvania towns they have never seen to corner strangers and persuade them to get off the Democratic fence and support Obama, the senator from Illinois, or Hillary Rodham Clinton, the senator from New York.

Even D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) have found Pennsylvania an irresistible attraction for advance work for Tuesday's critical Democratic primary. Fenty spent a weekend visiting seven towns, speaking to Obama volunteers and attending two dinners for Democratic organizations. Yesterday, Kaine was scheduled to attend "get out the vote" rallies for Obama in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, and O'Malley was expected at a rally of Irish American Democrats for Clinton in Philadelphia.

Washingtonians have been taking buses, vans, cars and trains to attend rallies, canvass neighborhoods, work phone banks and wave signs at intersections in Harrisburg, Reading, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Their motivation is history, the chance to make an impact on one of the most closely contested presidential primaries of all time.

"For a political junkie, it is like Woodstock," said Tom Smith, 54, the owner of a D.C. public relations firm, who is canvassing for Clinton in the Philadelphia area through Tuesday.

And like at Woodstock, volunteers have formed instant bonds and camaraderie. Smith, for example, has made his way across the country, following a campaign trail that he said has become an event in itself. He said he plans to coordinate in Philadelphia with supporters he met in San Antonio.

Indeed, Washingtonians have already flocked to other primary states, including Massachusetts, South Carolina and Ohio. Some are talking about going to North Carolina next weekend. Howard Park, a political organizer who lives on Capitol Hill, said he cannot recall this much activism by D.C. residents in out-of-town campaigns since 1992, and even then the enthusiasm had died down by this point in the primary process.