Obama, McCain have army of helpers in area

- At his final stop in the Sunshine State before Election Day, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told supporters Monday at Veterans Memorial Arena to avoid complacency.

"We have to work like our future depends on it in the next 24 hours, because it does," he said.

About 70 miles away in Gainesville, his supporters made an all-out final effort for votes. Volunteers hung voting reminders on hundreds of doors, called voters who had only sporadically cast ballots in recent elections and even prepared to hand out fliers today encouraging people not to be put off by long lines.

"For us, Alachua County has huge potential - and a lot of that is unfulfilled potential," said Patrick Kavanaugh, Gainesville spokesman for the campaign.

Alachua County has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1988 and was one of eight Florida counties to favor Obama in the January primary. His campaign is using a financial advantage to continue the streak, while boosting turnout among blacks, young people and sporadic voters to try to win the state.

The Obama campaign has three paid staffers who cover different sections of the county, two official offices and a third storefront that serves as a staging area. Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign operates out of the state Republican Party Victory office here.

Volunteers at that office, however, showed no inclination to concede the county. On Monday, about a dozen volunteers used a sophisticated computer program to target registered Republicans who have yet to cast ballots.

"We have very good volunteers who have worked their hearts out," said Michelle Nungesser, regional field coordinator for the Florida Republican Party.

The group included college students working between classes and retirees spending the entire day there. Ann Stone, 68, of Newberry said she's exhausted after working 12 hours days making buttons and answering phones.

She pointed to her favorite handmade button - a picture of a big-eared Obama that read "Vote for the Anti-Christ" - in explaining her drive to ensure his defeat.

"This is probably the most important event that has happened in my lifetime," she said, "and if it goes the wrong way, we're going to be a very sorry nation."

About 110 poll watchers have been recruited by the party to watch for irregularities at the county's 70 polling places, Nungesser said.

The Democrats, for their part, will have a team of about 100 lawyers and law students led by University of Florida law professor Lyrissa Lidsky.

Kavanaugh estimated that more than 2,000 local residents have volunteered for the Obama campaign.

The campaign uses a community organizing model in assigning volunteers responsibility over duties such as canvassing, phone calls and data collection.

"We have dentists, we have doctors, we have lawyers, we have professors, we have teachers, we have people who live in the projects," said Pat McCollough, a field organizer for the campaign. "It is community organizing."

Volunteers also include a large contingency of students, both at UF and local high schools.

Eastside High School sophomore Tonga Leslie, 15, said his parents are also volunteers and the family has been captivated by the election.

"Instead of watching movies or something, we watch the debates," he said.

The fact that he can't vote - or even drive to canvassing locations - hasn't dissuaded him from volunteering twice a week.

"I'm voting in the re-election in four years, hopefully," he said.

But the Obama campaign doesn't have a monopoly on students. The volunteers working the phones at the Republican office included a Santa Fe College student, a UF baseball player and a UF microbiology major who brought along her dog.

Santa Fe student James Eiland was spending part of his 20th birthday Monday working for the campaign.

"That would be a good birthday present - getting a good man and woman in there," he said.

Katherine DeCesare, 23, said she thought calling McCain supporters was important to show them they weren't alone in the left-leaning county. As she talked, her poodle-Pekinese mix, Chloe, peaked out of a bag adorned with a pink McCain-Palin button.

"She believes in the cause," she said. "We haven't trained her to make phone calls yet, though."