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McCain campaign to expand in Wisconsin

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The Wisconsin campaign to elect Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for president will be opening several new headquarters throughout the state.

McCain’s campaign currently has 10 centers throughout the state, and announced they will be adding eight more as the campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said they would be opening four new offices in Wisconsin.

“We’ve all seen the polls tightening,” said Kristen Kukowski, Republican Party of Wisconsin press secretary. “McCain sees Wisconsin as a good opportunity to flip a 2004 blue state into a red state.”

A recent Strategic Vision (R) poll conducted following the Republican National Convention showed Obama with only a three point lead on McCain in the state.

Kukowski said McCain’s campaign will be investing more time and will nearly double its resources throughout Wisconsin in the next 50 days leading up to the November elections.

“The name of the game is voter contact,” Kukowski said. “Almost doubling resources means we’ll be able to contact a lot more voters in Wisconsin.”

Kukowski said campaign employees and volunteers will contact voters by making phone calls and knocking on doors.

“You can see that Wisconsin voters are very important to the McCain campaign,” Kukowski said.

University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin said the change in the polls can be partially attributed to vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

“In the last two weeks, we’ve seen an example of a vice presidential pick having a significant influence in the polls,” Franklin said.

While McCain is not opening any more campaign headquarters in Madison, UW Students for McCain Co-Chair Mark Bednar said he hopes more offices will be comforting to McCain supporters on campus.

More offices mean more opportunity to learn about the candidate, Bednar said, and the more of a presence the campaign has, the better chance McCain will have in the election.

“A lot of people on campus are more shy, based on the nature of the overwhelming and longstanding Democratic support the city has always provided,” Bednar said. “More McCain presence lets them know they can feel safe to have a different point of view.”