In what is expected to be a close race for the White House, thousands of volunteers on either side of the ideological spectrum are calling strangers, handing out leaflets and knocking on doors in the final days of a long election campaign.

Millions of Ohioans have reached the breaking point with the blizzard of political commercials on their televisions. But aides for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are convinced the personal touch will be the deal-maker. In a race where every vote matters, the ground game can make or break each candidates chance of winning.

It makes it personal and cuts through all the millions of dollars being spent on TV, said Aaron Pickrell, a senior adviser to the Obama campaign and the political operative who helped devise Obamas highly praised ground game in Ohio in 2008. Its the ability to deliver the presidents message directly to someone.

Scott Jennings, Romneys state director, said the former Massachusetts governors campaign has focused on knocking on doors 2.2 million as of last week.

Weve got so many volunteers, thousands of people in all 88 counties knocking on doors, making calls and getting the word out about the election, Jennings said. When you put these streams together, it makes for a large amount of momentum in the state for the Romney/Ryan ticket.

Mike Dobyns, 61, a retired health care worker, spent Wednesday in a corner of the Clark County Republican headquarters, his ear pressed to the phone as Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Gov. John Kasich fired up the GOP faithful across the room.

A box nearby fed phone line numbers to Dobyns, and when someone answered he pressed success.

Successes were few and far between, however. Dobyns made 75 calls without anyone answering. It feels like I cant do a lot, he said, nevertheless adding, I kind of like doing it.

In northern Ohio, Allison ODonnell, 28, of Euclid spent Wednesday on her cell phone, dialing people she has never met.

Im a volunteer with President Obamas re-election campaign in Euclid, she would say. How are you today? Good. As you know the election is less than a week away and we need all the help we can get. So I was just wondering if you could give a few hours to volunteer on Election Day to make sure we get out the vote for Obama.

Read this article:
Campaigns using personal touch in final days