Volunteer Effort Revs Up

That call you got last night just as you were settling down to dinner? There's a good chance it came from a volunteer for one of your hardworking candidates, rallying support with less than a month to go before Election Day.

We know, because we watched some of these dedicated volunteers make those very calls when we dropped by unannounced at a couple of campaign offices yesterday evening.

The first stop was around 5:30 at the Fairfax County GOP headquarters, a homey office suite off Chain Bridge Road in Fairfax abuzz with staffers and volunteers, among them about a dozen high school students making phone calls for community service credit.

About an hour later we showed up at the Democrats' coordinated campaign headquarters, which took up the entire fourth floor of a mid-rise office building in McLean.

It's not exactly comparable to the GOP office we visited because it's not just a satellite field office. It's more like the mothership. About 20 to 25 staffers are there on any given day, along with a handful of volunteers, said Allison Jaslow, the Democratic Party of Virginia spokeswoman who just happened to be there for a meeting. We observed a few techy types in offices along the wall and some people busily talking on phones.