PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Both camps try to gain edge in Ohio

Winning Ohio's 20 electoral votes is considered essential.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Presidential campaigns in Ohio usually don't get serious until the political conventions are over and the candidates can refer to themselves as nominees.
Not this year.
The forces for President Bush have been working in Ohio since February, marshaling 50,000 volunteers in a state he won by 3.6 percentage points in 2000.
Democrat John Kerry's troops got a later start, formally opening their campaign headquarters Saturday, but they have been busy since first hitting Ohio in February, when it became clear he would become the nominee. To date, the Kerry Ohio campaign has 35,000 volunteers.
The Bush Ohio campaign has a group of offices it shares with Republican Sen. George Voinovich's campaign just south of downtown. Kerry's Ohio team opened its headquarters in a former firehouse on the city's blue-collar west side.
Robert Paduchik, a former aide to Gov. Bob Taft and most recently a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S Department of Energy, is Bush's Ohio campaign manager. He served in the same role in 2000. He returned to his regular job after the 2000 primary and came back to the campaign after the Republican convention in August. This year, Paduchik was on the job in April and will remain there until the election.
"When I came on in April, it felt like October," Paduchik said in his office overlooking a tree-lined plaza.
J.B. Poersch is the state director for Kerry. He has taken leave as Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed's chief of staff. He coordinated the Ohio campaign of Democrat Al Gore in 2000, joining the Gore team in late August; this year he arrived June 12.
"My first day to run a field campaign last time was Aug. 29 -- my first day," Poersch said in a partitioned area in the firehouse, which has a few offices and a large open area where the trucks used to park.
Ohio's importance
Both campaigns have made much out of the importance this year of Ohio and its 20 electoral votes -- seventh most in the nation. Television ads began in February and have lapsed only during the funeral ceremonies for Ronald Reagan.
In 2000, the Gore campaign perceived it could not win Ohio and reallocated its resources to other states in early October, more than a month before the election. Bush, shown leading in most polls, did the same about a week after the Gore campaign.
However, both campaigns kept their ground troops working and Bush's lead narrowed. Republicans believe that Democrats, with the help of their union allies, did a good job of getting their voters to the polls, making the election closer than it should have been.
The Democrats believe the gap was closing and Gore could have won.
"There were people we thought were going to vote Democratic and we lost them," Kerry campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said.
Reaching voters
While the bulk of the money -- Bush has raised more than $218 million and Kerry, more than $148 million -- going for advertising, the campaigns rely on their networks of volunteers to spread the word to the undecided and the difficult to motivate.
"They're more likely to hear what their neighbor has to say about John Kerry, what their brother-in-law has to say rather than what the television says," Poersch said.
The Bush campaign has taken a page from Democrat Howard Dean's campaign and is asking volunteers to host "parties for the president" around the country on specific dates. One last month featured a phone hookup with Vice President Dick Cheney. This month's virtual guest is first lady Laura Bush.
Both state chiefs will grow weary of never being off duty for the next four months, but neither passed up the chance to do it again.
"There's a lot of excitement and interest in this election," Paduchik said.
"Every four years, the magnet pulls me into this kind of activity," Poersch said.