BAGHDAD, Iraq — After battling over Iraq's draft constitution for months in the halls of government, Iraq's Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds prepared yesterday to take their fight over the charter to the streets, mosques and airwaves ahead of a nationwide referendum on the document.

As many as 6 million copies of the draft are being printed for distribution to Iraqi citizens before the Oct. 15 vote. Kurdish and Shiite politicians, who finalized the text over the weekend despite the objections of Sunni Arabs, vowed to make a strong push for passage.

"We will use everything," said Jawad Maliki, a Shiite politician who helped draft the charter. "We will use mosque preachers. We will even use Christian churches. We will use everything we need to make a great campaign for this constitution."

But Sunni Arabs, bitterly opposed to a document they view as a recipe for dismembering Iraq into semi-autonomous regions, vowed to oppose the constitution in the courts, through international forums, and in the voting booth, even though some doubt they can beat the powerful Shiites and Kurds at the polls.

Yesterday, Sunni Arab anger over the proposed constitution spilled onto the streets of Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, where about 1,000 demonstrators marched to condemn the proposed charter and held up portraits of the deposed Iraqi president.

About 85 percent of Sunni Arabs boycotted parliamentary elections in January, but Iraqi officials predicted many more would take part in the October poll. Iraqi election officials said Sunni Arab tribal leaders have asked for new voter-registration centers in their parts of the country, and authorities yesterday approved a one-week extension, until Sept. 7, for voters in Sunni-dominated Al Anbar province to join the voter rolls.

"This time is different," said Hussain Hindawi, an election official. "Last time they were boycotting. This time they were practically begging us to open election centers."

Iraq's transitional law does not clearly state whether politicians can make changes to the proposed constitution even as the text is being read and studied by the public. Sunni and Shiite leaders said behind-the-scenes negotiations continue, with Tariq Hashimi, leader of the Sunni Arab Iraqi Islamic Party, saying his group was trying to "make amendments" on articles it disagrees with.

Sunnis might also try to mount a legal challenge to the document, alleging that National Assembly violated its own rules by repeatedly extending the deadline for completing the text and failing to reach a consensus on the charter. But they concede they'll have a tough time getting a sympathetic hearing in a government now dominated by Shiites and Kurds.