Hundreds of Democratic congressional aides, operatives and lobbyists have descended in Las Vegas seeking to help Sen. Harry Reid pull off an 11th-hour win in a race key to his party's efforts to retain control of the Senate.
Reid supporters, including multiple labor unions and about 30 aides to Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, are canvassing neighborhoods, making sure likely voters get to precincts for early voting and organizing get-out-the-vote efforts to help Mr. Reid in his tight contest against Republican Sharron Angle.
Short of money, the Republican National Committee, which traditionally runs similar efforts, isn't paying for Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists to travel here. Instead, the RNC is relying mostly on volunteers. That leaves Republicans here such as Ms. Angle more reliant on untested operations run by a new political organization affiliated with Republican strategist Karl Rove. The group has sent volunteers with newfangled technology into the Las Vegas suburbs in a dry run for a larger get-out-the-vote drive for the 2012 presidential election.