"Ground war" back in vogue
hey call it the ground war. And as anticipated, it is back after a long hiatus, subtly changing politics as we know it. Or trying to.
After decades of playing poor relation to television advertising, grass-roots politics has become a campaign star this year, as many political pros predicted it would be in the aftermath of the Bush-Gore face-off of 2000. And today it ranges from old-fashioned shoe leather to Web technology that can make a precinct captain of anyone with a computer.
It is a matter of adaptation, or survival of the most flexible. With the country still so sharply divided that political analysts figure as few as 10 percent of voters are undecided, each side is fighting to find and bring out every last one if its voters, and persuade the "persuadables," too. That means competing door to door, computer to computer, Web site to Web site. A ground war to complement the air war. -- Foraging for Votes: One-Doorbell-One-Vote Tactic Re-emerges in Bush-Kerry Race (nytimes.com)