Obama takes advantage in field offices

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has more field offices and more staffers than Republican rival John McCain’s in many battleground states and beyond, giving him an advantage when it comes to turning out voters in November.

Not only is Sen. Obama (D-Ill.) organizing in the traditional swing states, he’s also already opened up offices in ruby-red states such as Alaska, where observers can’t remember the last time a presidential campaign from either side rented space for staffers.

{mosads}In states where both campaigns have announced field offices that they’ve opened or plan to open, Obama has a definite advantage. In Ohio, Obama will have 18 offices open by the end of this week, while Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) has eight. In Virginia, Obama has opened 20 while McCain has opened six.

In Missouri, Obama has plans for 30 offices while McCain is aiming to have 10, the Kansas City Star reported.

While Obama has 50 staffers already in the Show Me State with plans to hire 150 altogether, McCain had only a handful with hopes of hiring 50 workers.

In Alaska, which has been won by the Republican nominee in every presidential election since 1968, Obama has opened four offices while McCain has opened none.

“There has never really been a Democratic presidential candidate that has invested this heavily in Alaska,” said Jeff Giertz, Obama’s Alaska communications director.

McCain will get help from the state Republican Party in Alaska and elsewhere to organize his voters. McHugh Pierre, the Alaska GOP’s spokesman, said that presidential campaigns on both sides have traditionally relied on the local get-out-the-vote apparatus in his state. He added that organization alone won’t be enough for a Democrat to win Alaska’s three electoral votes.

“They can have all the field offices they want, but at the end of the day, [voters will] support the Republican candidate, because the Republican candidate most reflects the values that Alaskans hold dear to themselves,” such as gun, hunting and fishing rights, said Pierre.

In other swing states, Obama’s campaign has announced dozens of field offices and the hiring of paid staffers while McCain’s campaign has played things closer to the vest. According to Obama officials and his website, the Democrat’s campaign has about 40 offices in Michigan, 18 in Pennsylvania and about six in Montana. McCain campaign officials have yet to report its offices in those states.

Political analysts on both sides agree that a significant disparity exists. 

“All the evidence suggests that the Obama folks are way ahead of the McCain campaign,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic strategist and pollster who also writes a column for The Hill.

Mellman also credited the “enthusiasm gap” for drawing large number of volunteers and staffers to Obama’s organizations. According to an Associated Press/Yahoo! survey released last week, 38 percent of Obama supporters and just 9 percent of McCain backers find the election exciting.

“McCain supporters are demoralized and demobilized and are really unwilling to participate in an active campaign organization,” Mellman said.

Much of Obama’s advantage also stems from the Democrats’ protracted primary campaign, when his campaign worked to organize voters nationwide, said Phillip Stutts, the national director of President Bush’s vaunted 2004 get-out-the-vote operation, the 72-Hour Program.

“Obama did have a great primary grassroots effort,” Stutts said. “McCain didn’t. He had nothing. He had a very small staff in key states, but he still won.”

Indeed, Obama parlayed strong organizations in caucus states to produce victories over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in states such as Iowa, Montana and Wyoming.

Obama’s formidable campaign war chest — he has raised about $339 million compared to McCain’s $145 million — has allowed the Democrat to build an army of campaign workers. Obama has spent $35.7 million on staff salaries and benefits and $7.7 million on rent and utilities, while McCain has spent about $11.9 million on staff and about $4 million for office space and utilities, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Obama’s advantage in organization, said Stutts, is likely to matter most in close races that come down to one or two percentage points.

“It’s almost like in a football game, having a better field goal kicker to get the three points to win the election,” he said.