Obama grassroots effort called biggest yet

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama has developed the most far-reaching grassroots campaign structure ever devised, analysts said.

Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, has placed fresh emphasis on old fashioned, face-to-face campaigning, establishing a massive network of more than 700 campaign offices in battleground states and establishing strict sets of ambitious voter outreach goals for volunteers, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

Obama's campaign managers have also borrowed some successful and sophisticated techniques from Republican strategist Karl Rove to find voters who may be responsive to their message, the Post said. Rove used the methods to help President George Bush defeat Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry in 2004, political analysts told the newspaper.

The Obama effort's scale is unprecedented and its volunteers highly motivated, Marshall Ganz, a labor organizer who has led training sessions for Obama staff members and volunteers, told the Post.

"They've invested in a civic infrastructure on a scale that has never happened," he said. "It's been an investment in the development of thousands of young people equipped with the skills and leadership ability to mobilize people and in the development of leadership at the local level. It's profound."