WASHINGTON — For months, Barack Obama's presidential campaign said it would capture traditionally Republican states this fall by registering more African Americans, younger Americans and other voters, in essence reshaping the electorate. Now, the results of that ambitious effort are coming into view.
Today is the deadline for new voters to register in many of the battleground states that will probably decide the election, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Indiana and Colorado. In some of these states, Obama and his allies have added substantial numbers of Democrats to the voting rolls.
As the balloting approaches, voter interest has reached a level that is leaving some state elections offices strained. Nancy Rodrigues, chief elections officer for Virginia, said she had recruited scores of volunteers just to answer phones. One day last week, her office was inundated with 8,000 calls.
"We're feeling a little overwhelmed. Thirty people divided into 8,000 calls -- do the math," she said.
Leading up to today's deadlines, Obama and Republican John McCain have been using celebrity supporters to entice people to register. Two former members of the Cincinnati Bengals, Coach Sam Wyche and offensive lineman Anthony Munoz, stumped for McCain last week in Ohio.
Not to be outdone, Obama trotted out the Boss. Bruce Springsteen gave concerts over the weekend in the electoral-vote-rich states of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
"We need somebody to lead us in an American reclamation project," Springsteen told the tens of thousands of people who came out for the concert Saturday in Philadelphia, amid renditions of "Thunder Road" and "The Rising."
Some states allow new voters to register until late October; California's deadline is Oct. 20.
A look at the voter registration numbers in some battleground states suggests trends that appear to favor Obama.
Virginia, for example, has logged more than 300,000 new voters since the year began. The state does not record party affiliation, but it says that 41% of the new registrants are under the age of 25, and an additional 20% are between the ages of 25 and 34.
The influx of young voters, a core part of Obama's voting coalition, is an encouraging sign for the Democratic nominee in a state that has not picked a Democrat for president in more than 40 years.
