Republicans practice intense outreach with energy in the air

It’s a historic primary election in California, and local members of the Republican grassroots are out there ready to press for their candidates. With an election early enough to matter in the national race, many say this time the game on the ground is in whole new territory.

There’s a very different tenor to the campaign in California this year, said Orange County GOP chairman Scott Baugh, the former Huntington Beach Assemblyman who along with his successor in the district, Assemblyman Jim Silva, is heavily involved in the local campaign for Mitt Romney.

“Activity absolutely is higher,” Baugh said. “What’s not different is California’s always been an ATM machine for most of the candidates. This year money’s being raised here again, but it’s also being spent here as well.”

That leads to a real sense of energy in the area, said Kevin Muldoon, the Orange County chairman for the John McCain campaign.

“It’s really exciting in the Southern California area, especially Orange County,” he said. “We’re hoping to show John McCain is the most Republican candidate for the most Republican county. For us it’s been a real blitz; OK, now all attention’s on California, and all attention’s on Orange County for me personally.”

That blitz has included aggressive outreach to local groups like the Lincoln Club of Orange County, Muldoon said. This weekend’s plan involves Super Bowl parties to get supporters together to make phone calls.

Mike Huckabee supporters did phone banking from their homes over the weekend, while some gathered in Newport Beach Wednesday for a private fundraiser with the candidate, geared toward the candidates’ appearances at a Simi Valley debate.

“We are definitely doing phone-banking, sign-waving and all the other campaign stuff that makes this so fun,” said Huckabee supporter Mike Morabito.

The self-motivated supporters of maverick candidate Ron Paul have been walking precincts for more than a month, said state campaign chairwoman Holly Clearman. Supporters walk their own neighborhoods using literature they buy from the Ron Paul campaign, said local volunteer Donna Andert, who runs the precinct-walking program in Orange County. As the campaign’s national strength is on the Web, much of the real action comes from online-based meet-ups; the Huntington Beach meet-up lists 55 members, though it was one of the last to get started.

“The campaign has had a lot of innovations in how it’s run,” she said. “You’ve got this little card that tells you what to say. And people like it or they don’t. The point [is] they’re doing this incredibly ordinary activity of just going door to door and sharing the message, saying, ‘I’m your neighbor, and this is what I believe.’ ”

But candidates haven’t been able to pull out all the stops in local districts, Baugh said.

“With such a condensed primary between the early states and the 21 states Tuesday, the campaigns’ hands were tied against spending too much out here,” he said.