The Final Push

In five days, popularity polls and political analysts won't matter. Come Tuesday night, Americans will know the identity of the next president of the United States. But until then volunteers and paid staff all over the country are scurrying to spread their candidate's message and pack voting booths with supporters. Like the rest of us, they read the latest polls and watch the sound bites on the evening news. They also do "visibilities" (sign-carrying) and "phone banking." In short, it may be too late to be stuffing letters and raising money, but these people are experts on "jamming three weeks of work into the next week," as Robert Gray, a Boston communications director for the Bush campaign says.

Apparently, the week's theme is "it's never too late." Or, "no poll results are ever final." The final days of the campaign are no time to let up, campaign workers say: the phones are ringing off the hook, new volunteers keep coming through the doors of the campaign offices to offer their time, and voters are streaming in at the last minute to pick up buttons and bumper stickers.

Voice mail, too, is keeping up with the hectic pace of this crucial week. A phone number for Ross Perot's campaign greets callers with "Hello, and thank you for calling United We Stand America. Ross Perot's next TV spot is Monday, October 26, on ABC..." The recording then offers, for those with a touch-tone phone, various Perot options. Newsletter? Names of district coordinators? News-in-Brief? Volunteer information? Or maybe a summary of Ross Perot's book, United We Stand America?

The most activity of all, however, is taking place in campaign offices. "Things are kind of crazy here," a woman from the press department of the Victory '92 Democratic campaign headquarters says breathlessly upon answering the phone.

At the same time, says Cheryl Brolin, a spokesperson for Clinton's campaign, "people are working very hard." The mood, she says, is "business." "Nose to the grindstone, working hard," she says, trying to describe the atmosphere. "'Anxious.' 'Anxious' is a good word," she concludes.

At the Bush headquarters, says Gray, there is renewed interest in the campaign, thanks to weekend poll results. The environment is "very optimistic. Our phones have been ringing like crazy," he says.

And at the headquarters for Perot's campaign in Manchester, a dog is barking. "This is a home," explains volunteer Jim Foster over the phone.

The atmosphere in that home is "intense" now, he says, but the campaign itself is calm: more of a "movement" than a campaign, the effort is "a peaceful revolution," says Foster.

Even in this frenzied last week, Perot volunteers feel that their work is important, Perot's "movement" is not like "robotics," Foster says--no one is ordered what to do. "We're all spokespeople," he says. "What you see is very real."

Right now, the most important task at hand for Perot volunteers is to communicate their candidate's message to voters and to make sure that "friends and neighbors know about Ross Perot's programs on TV," says Foster.

Delivering the message is also this week's goal at the Bush headquarters, says Gray. There is "a distinct game plan for the next eight days," he says. "We know what has to be done."

The staff and volunteers for Bush's campaign want to "drive home the message that George Bush has been a great president and that Bill Clinton is really a pretender," says Gray. "The next eight days are going to be committed to getting that message across to as many voters as possible."

Recent polls have boosted spirits in Bush's Boston campaign headquarters, says Gray. "Polls have a profound effect on people. People are really energized by the numbers," he says. The campaign office will do its part to close the point spread between Clinton and Bush and then push their candidate "over the top," Gray says.

On election night, many campaign workers will gather at Boston hotels to watch election returns on TV: Bush's supporters can attend "a victory party" at the Copley Plaza Hotel, while Clinton supporters will head for the Imperial Ballroom of the Park Plaza Hotel.

Foster, however, points to his movement's unfamiliarity with politics when he talks about Tuesday night's festivities--or lack of them. "I don't know," he says about plans for that night. "I've never done anything like this before. None of us here are politicians."

Even on Wednesday, the campaign won't be over, staff and volunteers say. "It's back to work the next morning," Gray says of his party's campaign. Details will have to be taken care of, he explains. There's the press aftermath to deal with, bills to be paid, and "furniture to be repaired," he laughs.

But regardless of whether their efforts and in victory or defeat, campaign workers agree that the mood in their offices this week is certainly exciting.

"I'd say the last week is an adrenaline rush, an exhilarating experience," says Gray.