Seattle Mayor’s Race Now Comes Down To The 'Ground Game'

It’s down to the wire in the hotly contested Seattle mayor’s race.

With the public debates and forums now largely over, the campaigns have shifted to what is called the “ground game”—phone calling, doorbelling, sign waving.

Volunteers for incumbent Mayor Mike McGinn have knocked on more than 20,000 doors and made more than 150,000 phone calls so far, according to the campaign. Even though the mayor is behind in recent polls, the campaign has long claimed that it runs the superior field operation, and will make up the difference in the final days of the election.

Ed Murray’s campaign is also mounting a significant final drive to election day. More than 1,000 active volunteers are making up to 5,000 calls a night, according to the campaign. “I would not say our ground game plays second fiddle to anyone, including McGinn’s,” said Murray’s campaign consultant Sandeep Kaushik.

This story was originally published at 3:30 p.m. on 10/30/2013.

Both sides are trying to reach possibly thousands of undecided voters in this race. Since this is an off-year election, the campaigns say the get-out-the-vote effort is even more important. Many people, including their supporters, won’t bother to mail in their ballots.