Campaign Notebook
Nation short half-million poll workers

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A shortage of at least 500,000 poll workers nationwide means many voters could face long lines, cranky volunteers, polling places that don't open or close on schedule and the chance that results won't be known until long after the polls are closed.

Roughly 1.4 million people have been trained to serve as poll workers tomorrow, about the same as four years ago, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. But nearly 2 million will be needed to deal with expected heavy turnout, huge numbers of first-time voters and unfamiliar touch-screen machines in hundreds of counties.

Desperate for workers, the Election Assistance Commission urged businesses and federal agencies to give volunteers the day off with pay to staff the polls. But as the last deadline for training new workers passed Friday, critical shortages remained in many states.

Clinton in Arkansas stumping for Kerry

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Former President Clinton yesterday returned to the state he governed for 12 years, in an effort to boost John Kerry's chance of winning Arkansas' six electoral votes.

Less than two months after quadruple heart-bypass surgery, Clinton appeared before a faithful crowd estimated at 4,500 and urged Democrats to vote. "A lot of people died for the right to vote and I don't want to be rolled by people staying home from the polls that shouldn't be," said Clinton, a resident of New York since leaving the White House in 2001.

With earlier polls showing Arkansas comfortably in President Bush's camp, Kerry's campaign had all but written off the state. However, polling two weeks ago found the candidates in a dead heat, triggering a late advertising push by both camps.

Bishop pens pointed message on election

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay, Wis., has a substantial Catholic population and looms as a key electoral battleground.
 
So it was no small matter when Green Bay's influential Bishop David Zubik issued a note in church bulletins this week urging Catholics to vote in the presidential election and to base their vote foremost on opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.

Although he emphasized that he was not endorsing a candidate, Zubik dismissed the distinction that Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry — and many other liberal Catholic leaders — has drawn between his Catholic faith and his public life. "Some political figures in this election have asserted that there is a natural divide between their religious beliefs and their political views," Zubik wrote in a column also published in the Compass, the diocesan newspaper. "I argue that [this] is patently false. [It] goes against the fabric of what it means to be a person of faith."

President Bush opposes abortion and favors a constitutional amendment to bar gay marriage.

"When you go to your local polls, don't leave God outside," Zubik wrote.

Costumed grandchild used as anti-Kerry joke

ROMULUS, Mich. — It's never too early to get into politics.

The closing days of the campaign have turned into an expanded family affair for Vice President Dick Cheney, his wife, Lynne, and their three granddaughters who are traveling with them.

At a campaign rally yesterday, Elizabeth, 7, wore a scary Halloween costume as the Grim Reaper. To howls of laughter, Lynne Cheney introduced Elizabeth as "John Kerry's health plan," highlighting one of the many campaign issues.