Obama volunteers flood the zone in Wisconsin
CHICAGO — Obama for America volunteers from Illinois have helped flood the zone in Wisconsin in the last few days to help work for an electoral prize the campaign would dearly love to win.
A surge in volunteer hours in recent days has been fed partly by the promise of tickets to President Obama’s Election Night Party in Chicago.
Many of those volunteers have been at work in the neighboring state for weeks now, knocking on doors and working the phones to help the former Illinois senator lock down Wisconsin in his bid for reelection.
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Some of those volunteers say they have been redirected in the last week from Iowa, where the president is running strong, to Wisconsin, a battleground with 10 electoral votes that also happens to be the home state of Republican vice presidential nominee Paul D. Ryan.
A win in Ryan’s state would have special resonance if Obama moves into a second term, which would begin with a high-profile fight to challenge the priorities of the House Republicans and their Ryan-designed budget.
Volunteers requested anonymity in discussing the movement of ground troops, after Obama for America field organizers asked them to keep quiet their plans to knock on doors and make calls.
For Obama fans in a reliably blue state, though, it’s hard to keep quiet about their role in a close race.
INTERACTIVE: Battleground states map
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