Political Parties Energized In Final Days of Campaign

Separated by less than a mile, the scene in a pair of downtown Columbia offices was strikingly similar on Thursday night: enthusiastic volunteers working the phones, plowing through hundreds of phone numbers, talking to voters as political campaigns enter their final weekend.

At the headquarters of the South Carolina Democratic Party, Executive Director Amanda Loveday said her team was reaching out to voters across the Palmetto State, encouraging them to vote the straight party ticket. While all Democratic candidates were getting support, those receiving particular attention were candidates in Senate 20 and 41 and House 75 and 78, as well as Gloria Tinubu in the race for South Carolina’s new congressional seat in the Grand Strand and Pee Dee area.

Loveday said that in addition to SCDP, the South Carolina branch of Obama for America was calling voters and canvassing in North Carolina, a state believed to be up for grabs and one that President Obama won in 2008.

Meanwhile, a short walk away, Delinda Ridings, Field Director for the South Carolina Republican Party, was leading her team in calls to South Carolina voters and to Republicans in Wisconsin, a state where some poll-watchers think Mitt Romney can spring an upset. Ridings said that volunteers for the SCGOP have also contacted voters in Florida, Ohio and North Carolina—all swing states that Romney must win to achieve victory.

While the SCGOP is supporting Romney, Ridings said three-fourths of the volunteers were calling on voters here in South Carolina on behalf of candidates all over the state. Getting special attention were the same races that the Democrats were working. Since September, Ridings said her team has contacted more than 250,000 voters.

Election Day is Tuesday.