Joni Balter / Seattle Times editorial columnist
Expect trench warfare in this battleground state

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Everything old is new again. In the presidential race in Washington and many other states, doorbelling, that close-to-the-customer politicking, is back with a vengeance.

If Washington remains a battleground state, you may peer through the peephole in the months ahead and see a veritable crowd of doorbellers gathered on the doorstep.

At this early stage, Republicans may have the edge if only because the GOP has enough money and lead time to develop what has been dubbed the most closely managed voter-outreach effort in the history of professionally run presidential campaigns.

The party aims to compete with the grass-roots infrastructure Democrats have long relied upon, such as unions and environmental groups.

The Kerry campaign is getting rolling in our state and, frankly, could turn the effort up a notch.

For all the millions spent on TV, polling and direct mail, nothing beats human contact, neighbor talking to neighbor. Ground troops matter.

Some Democrats bristle at the idea that Washington, which has backed Democratic presidential candidates the past four elections, is even considered one of 17 to 20 battleground states. It is a battleground because Republicans have enough money and organizational verve to make it one.

Washington is roughly one-third Republican, one-third Democrat and one-third independent. As elsewhere, most voters already have decided for whom they will vote in the presidential race.

Because of the close 2000 election and statistical dead heat in current polls, both campaigns are working to find a few thousand voters who have not decided. That means ferreting out every vote possible from the hinterlands, cities and places in-between.

There is also a sense among some experts that voters have developed fatigue from the onslaught of negative TV ads and aim for the recycling bin whenever mailboxes are stuffed with attack fliers. Caller ID helps people weed out telephone solicitors, robo-messages and all.

Republican doorbelling to identify supportive voters and register people not already registered began last weekend with activities under way in "hundreds of precincts," as state GOP Chairman Chris Vance put it.

Even allowing for Vance's customary bluster and braggadocio, that beats Democrats, who have been doorbelling selected areas but won't be out in full force for another week or two.

To be clear, doorbelling as a basic campaign tool never waned for local candidates. Meet Bob Ferguson, who last year doorbelled his way to the King County Council over a long-time popular Democrat, Cynthia Sullivan. Don't forget U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, who must have worn out a closet of shoes when he won the 9th Congressional District

But at the presidential level, doorbelling has been eclipsed by telephone, direct mail and TV ads.

The Bush campaign opened its campaign office here last month and named its state director six weeks ago.

The Kerry campaign has a few, young newbies on the ground; the campaign yesterday named a state director for Washington, Sam Rodriguez, who starts work next week..

With the campaign battle so pitched, a number of Democratic Party activists fret about the organization's level of sophistication in our state.

"There are no adults in charge," said one Democratic official.

The "Kerry kids" were blamed by another political insider for last weekend's unruly delegate-selection process for the national convention, which featured Kerry delegates screaming at Kerry delegates.

When asked about campaign readiness, spokeswoman Laura Capps says Al Gore had a five-week lull between the primaries and the party convention in 2000. Kerry came to Seattle in May and spent real time here.

"Our currency is days," said Capps. "We have a limited number of days. If he spends two-and-half days there, it's an indication that Washington matters."

The Kerry campaign has numerous volunteers and so-called Kerry lieutenants organizing precincts. The campaign is rightfully proud of a Veterans for Kerry steering committee.

But Democrats are up against an energetic campaign willing to fight hedgerow to hedgerow for voters and perhaps stay in the state long enough to help candidates down the ticket — for example, governor and U.S. Senate.

Democrats recently have had the edge in Washington presidential contests. This year, as that bright-eyed volunteer coming to a doorstep near you readily will admit, neither side can afford to take anything, or anyone, for granted.

Joni Balter's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is jbalter@seattletimes.com