By: Politico

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Voters who are young or African-American or who sat out the last few elections had never been more sought after as the campaign hits its last weeks in Ohio.

Meghan McCain, the 24-year-old daughter of the Republican nominee, visited voters in rural central Ohio. Obama sent music mogul Russell Simmons to rally voters in urban centers of Columbus and Cleveland. And NBA star LeBron James — the closest thing Ohio has to a sports saint — joined Obama’s campaign as a pitchman.

"It’s all about getting young people to understand how important it is to vote. This is a time that could be life-changing for a lot of people," said James, who campaigned for Obama in his native Akron.

Both campaigns are using the biggest megaphones they can find to build on past years’ models. Republicans still plan to carry rural areas; Democrats want to run up big numbers in the state’s urban centers.

But both are attempting to go past that.

Obama’s Ohio campaign is playing in areas that don’t normally get campaign staff. His massive neighbor-to-neighbor program reaches goes into rural areas and traditionally Republican areas. The Democrats have a satellite office within 42 miles of every Ohio resident. All told, Obama’s 300-person-plus staff in 79 Ohio offices is twice the size of John F. Kerry’s in 2004, aides said.

Obama’s campaign is forcing McCain’s to spend time in areas once thought reliably Republican. Luckily for McCain’s workers, the Ohio GOP has long organized the state with a ground game that never truly shuts down after elections. The grass-roots volunteers remain engaged, and the state and county parties keep tabs on them.

McCain is running a leaner campaign, but the Republican National Committee’s collaborative Victory Committee is supplementing those efforts. McCain has 40 Ohio offices, but they’re open far fewer hours and have far fewer paid staff.

"The groundwork had been there for years. That gave us a good foundation through the dog days of summer," said Jon Seaton, McCain’s aide overseeing the campaign in Ohio and Pennsylvania. "In other states, creating the infrastructure was a lift. We could get right into it here."

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