Anchorage Daily News

National campaigns from both parties are paying serious attention to the Last Frontier, and the state Democratic Party is predicting record turnout for its caucus. Campaign volunteers were working the phones and out waving signs in subzero temperatures on Monday.

"This is a ground game, a game of inches, and Alaska can make a huge difference," Democratic candidate Barack Obama said in a telephone interview over the weekend.

He's taking on Hillary Clinton and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel in the Democratic caucus. The Obama-Clinton race is so close that every state counts.

Insurgent Republican Ron Paul is especially counting on Alaska. His staffers Monday were glued to the phones, making sure Paul's Alaska supporters make it to the Republican poll.

"If we turn them all out, we will dominate the caucus entirely," said Craig Bergman, who is directing Paul's Alaska effort.

Paul, who previously ran for president as a Libertarian, has campaign offices in Anchorage and Fairbanks. He has 12 paid staffers here, more than any other presidential candidate. He sent Bergman, his Iowa political director, to Alaska to get his first win.

A Paul victory, even in a state as small as Alaska, would grab national attention.

But the Alaska supporters of Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee were doing all they could on Monday to make sure that does not happen. Romney supporters were busy phoning Republican "super-voters." Those are people who vote most often in elections and are therefore most likely to show up at the polls today.

"We're getting very, very good results from our phoning," said Chris Nelson, director of Romney's Alaska campaign. "The wild card in the deck is the Ron Paul campaign. They are organizing nontraditional folks to get active in the process."

Nelson said new voters recruited by Paul wouldn't show up on the Romney GOP call list. They are under the radar and there's no way to know how they might affect the race, he said.

"Anybody who makes a prediction is nuts," he said.

The Romney campaign argues that the national Republican race is down to Romney versus John McCain. McCain opposes oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and criticizes Alaska's "bridges to nowhere" at campaign stops in the Lower 48.

McCain does not have a visible campaign in Alaska. There was one McCain supporter waving a handmade sign during the Monday evening rush hour at Seward Highway and Northern Lights Boulevard. Four Romney backers waved signs nearby.

It's the trendy spot in Anchorage to wave political signs. A half-dozen Huckabee supporters were in the same area waving campaign signs Monday morning. They said it's support in states like Alaska that would keep Huckabee in the running.

A nearby time-and-temperature sign said it was 4 degrees below zero.

"This has got to be hard-core, right?" Huckabee volunteer Cate Chatman said as the sign-wavers drank hot chocolate and put warming packets in their gloves and boots. "We want to make sure as many people as possible see Mike's name and that he has supporters in Alaska."

The Huckabee campaign in Alaska got off to a quiet start but picked up speed in the crucial days leading to the Republican caucus. The organized Obama campaign effort has dominated the weeks leading up to the Alaska Democratic caucus. Obama has an Anchorage campaign office, while his rival, Clinton, doesn't.

"Things are hitting on all cylinders right now," Obama organizer Chris Farrell said Monday.

He said the campaign got two Mercedes stretch limousines at a discount rate to bring voters from the Fairview and Mountain View recreation centers to caucus.

There are also plans for buses from the University of Alaska campuses in Anchorage and Fairbanks, he said.

Clinton volunteers were active Monday as well, gathering in groups to make phone calls.

They were targeting Democratic super-voters, members of abortion-rights groups and others in Alaska who the campaign thought would be likely to support Clinton.

Former Anchorage Assemblywoman Pat Abney, a volunteer for the Clinton campaign, said it's going well.

"It will be a tight competition," she said.

Alaska and Super Tuesday Alaskans will participate today in the biggest day of presidential primary voting in U.S. history -- Super Tuesday. Delegates from 24 states will be chosen to represent their states at national conventions. Alaska's Democrats will choose candidates by caucus, and Republicans will vote by ballot. Who can participate:

Participants must be registered as a voter with the party. They can register today at the Republican polls or Democratic caucuses.

Democrats who will be 18 or older on May 4, 2008, are allowed to participate. Note: A person may register to vote 90 days prior to turning 18.

Republican participants must be 18 by today. Where to vote or caucus

REPUBLICANS

Anchorage: Egan Center, except for District 21 at the How How restaurant, 207 Muldoon Road

Eagle River: Lions Park Building, Mile 1.5 Eagle River Road

Wasilla: Regan Building on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway

Palmer: Train depot

DEMOCRATS

Anchorage and Eagle River: Begich Middle School, 7440 Creekside Center Drive

Mat-Su and Chugiak: Grand View Inn and Suites on the Parks Highway

See adn.com/politics to find additional statewide locations. Presidential campaigns are driving hard in the final hours before tonight's Alaska Republican and Democratic caucuses, which are shaping up like none the state has seen.

Find Sean Cockerham online at adn.com/contact/scockerham or call him at 257-4344.

ADVERTISEMENT