US News
Campaign fever boils on US election day as ads, calls continue
By DPA
Nov 7, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - Candidates and campaign workers continued working at a fevered pitch well into election day Tuesday, seeking to wring out the last drop of support in the crucial battle over US Congress.

Television advertisements kept running, and some candidates voted with absentee ballots so they could continue drumming up support with more personal appearances.

Luminaries like former president Bill Clinton stumped for Virginia Senate challenger Jim Webb, a Democrat, well into election eve to the steadily warm reception he has received over the past weeks as he travelled to more than 31 states.

His popularity stood in start contrast to the failing lustre of his White House successor, President George W Bush, whose war in Iraq and other failed policies are blamed for falling Republican currency. Bush has largely kept his campaigning to candidates from areas already friendly to the president.

On Monday, Bush was dealt a 'snub of the first order' when Charlie Crist, the Republican candidate in the Florida governor's race, failed to attend a rally Bush had organized for him, the Florida Sun Sentinel reported. Crist is bidding to succeed the president's brother, Jeb, who can't run again due to term limits.

In other last minute efforts, campaign workers dialled countless homes to get out the vote.

In one Maryland household with both Republican and Democratic registered voters, representatives of both parties continued to call Tuesday to make sure supporters were planning to vote.

Out-of-state residents like Andy Jaszewski, 49, a carpenter in California, pitched in on behalf of Democrats, calling on behalf of Senate candidate Ben Cardin, who is in a tight race with Republican Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele.

'I'm fed up with this president,' he said Monday night. 'I got active two years ago.'

In past elections, the Republicans mobilized voters on a massive scale while Democrats fell short, but this year Democrats made a more concerted effort to catch their counterparts in mobilization efforts.

In addition, so-called 'robo-calls' - automatically programmed messages from the candidates themselves and illustrious supporters - continued to ring the phones.

The voice of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a man who could bid for Republican presidential nomination in 2008, advocated for Steele, for example.