Obama’s campaign team in New Hampshire is larger than GOP rivals’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/obamas-campaign-team-in-new-hampshire-is-larger-than-gop-rivals/2012/01/06/gIQAovn3eP_story.html
By Kate Andersen Brower, Published: January 5 | Updated: Friday, January 6, 10:32 AM
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The biggest presidential primary campaign team in New Hampshire is tucked on a Manchester side street inside a four-story brick building and it belongs to the best-financed candidate seeking nomination: President Barack Obama.
The office is one of seven in the state and his re-election campaign has about 20 paid employees. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, the two front-runners in the Republican presidential primary after they emerged first and second in the Iowa caucuses, each have one office. Romney has nine paid staffers in the state and Santorum has eight.
Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who skipped Iowa to campaign full time in New Hampshire, showed up at more than 150 public events and recruited almost 1,000 volunteers, said Michael Levoff, a Huntsman spokesman. Since Obama announced his candidacy, his Granite State volunteers have held 500 events, including house parties, phone banks and training sessions.
The Obama camps short-term goal is the same as the Republican primary rivals, to turn out the vote on Jan. 10, primary night. While his nomination isnt on the line, his support in the state has plunged. His team can use the event to test its operations and score bragging rights if the partys turnout measures competitively with that in the contested Republican primary.