With a little more than 100 days until the November election, state Republican and Democratic party officials are attempting to mobilize party members in increasingly different manners.

Democratic strategies

At a rally last week in Des Moines, Democratic party leaders urged people to request absentee ballot forms to send in. Party officials said George W. Bush had won Iowa at the polls by more than 7,000, but when all the absentee ballots had been collected, Al Gore led by more than 4,000 votes.

Democrats hope to increase that margin this year. According to U.S. News and World Report, there are an estimated 9,100 absentee votes out right now. Kerry campaign spokesman Colin Van Ostern said that, because of the January caucuses, the Kerry campaign now has thousands of people willing to help, and that the absentee ballot drive is very important to the campaign as a whole.

Republican strategies

In Waterloo Friday, Republican party officials stressed the fact that Iowa was lost in 2000 by less than two votes per precinct. Republican leaders urged voters to make calls to every person they know.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Iowa had not gone to a Republican presidential candidate since 1984. Before that, Grassley said, the state had only voted five times for someone other than a Republican candidate. The message was repeated at another rally Tuesday by political leaders. Cedar Rapids Mayor Paul Pate stressed the importance of the upcoming election and said it was imperative that voters get more than the two votes needed.

In the 2000 election, Story County voters chose Gore over Bush 49 to 45 percent.

— Josh Nelson