N.M. teams emphasize that every vote counts

ALBUQUERQUE -- In this battleground state, Jennifer Chadwell-Feld is already at war.

Chadwell-Feld, 58, dials voters from a small warehouse, gauging support for Republican presidential nominee John McCain and reminding them a vote Nov. 4 could be crucial in one of the nation's tightest swing states.

"Since you support McCain, would you be willing to volunteer for the campaign?" the volunteer says and records the answers, which will be entered into a computer. "Can we get you a yard sign?"

In New Mexico, where President Bush eked out a win in 2004 with less than 6,000 votes, the race between McCain and Democrat Barack Obama may depend as much on volunteers as any stump speech or television ad by the candidates.

Nearly 127,000 New Mexicans have registered to vote in the past year — a 12% increase — state election data show. Volunteers are engaged in a grass-roots effort to ensure supporters turn out to vote.

"We're just seeing intense mobilization efforts," says Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico. "We've already had a lot of early voting turnout."

Generating votes

Energized by the idea that every vote may count, Jesse Cresdin, 21, an Obama volunteer, moves quickly through a neighborhood in Las Vegas, N.M. Obama is the first candidate he can recall opening an office in town, he says.

Obama has 39 campaign offices statewide, according to his campaign. McCain has 24, the state Republican Party says, but that includes Republican county offices.

"We're just making sure that everybody … is registered to vote," Cresdin, clipboard in hand, tells Alfred Marquez, 31, before handing him an "Obamanos" sticker, a play on Obama's name and the Spanish word vamonos, "let's go."

The get-out-the-vote effort was a major component of the 2004 presidential election, says Donald Green, a political science professor at Yale University. This year, as battle lines harden, campaigns rely more on those mobilization tactics, he says.