Clinton Intensifies Ground Work in Ind.

While the Clinton campaign advertised 30 organized canvassing expeditions this weekend, the Obama team said it put together 55 "block parties" for supporters and undecided voters on Saturday, complete with food and music. At each, voters were encouraged to go straight to nearby government offices and cast their ballots.

Troy Watson fits the Obama campaign mold. A union electrician, he backed Obama early last year "when most people thought I was nuts." He printed literature from Obama's Web site and kept it with him wherever he went. He held his first meeting in August, when Obama was nowhere in the polls.

"We started doing events and putting them in the paper," Watson said. When Obama campaign workers arrived in mid-March, he was ready with names and ideas.

Dan Pfeiffer, Obama's deputy communications director, disputes the idea that Clinton's organization here is comparable to Obama's, calling it "a classic case of the machine versus the movement."

"The Clinton campaign has the entire establishment on its side, including the Bayh machine, which is legendary in Indiana," Pfeiffer said in an e-mail. "Barack Obama has thousands of grass-roots supporters who desperately want change and are willing to work their hearts out for it."

In South Bend, the Clinton team is feeling encouraged, despite the difficult delegate math and the vast gap in campaign funds. It helps that staffers and volunteers sense their ground game is humming.

"We'd like to have all the TV ads and the yard signs we could have," one staff member said, "but we think we can win with the volunteers we have."