For 27-year-old Kevin Shively, however, it is the beginning of the second shift. The Swing State Get-Out-the-Vote Coordinator for California Peace Action, Shively organizes volunteers throughout the Bay Area to cold-call potential voters in other states. They call Peace Action members, Green Party members and undecided voters in places like Nevada and New Mexico to encourage them to get to the polls on Tuesday.

Since he began the job in early September, it has been strictly seven-day workweeks, usually between 60 and 70 hours a week.

"I'm kind of anxious for this campaign to be over," he said. "I'm going to take a break, going to sleep for a while."

Tonight he is setting up a phone bank at the fifth-floor offices of AIDS Legal Referral Panel, a nonprofit that rented him the space for after-hours use. During the day, Shively works out of Peace Action's Berkeley office, where he organizes phone lists and recruits volunteers. Then, on weekday evenings, he heads over to San Francisco to set up shop in the AIDS group's office at Mission and South Van Ness. On the weekends, he is back in Berkeley, supervising another group of callers.

He said recruiting callers has generally been easy. "There's an unlimited supply of people of who are passionate about this election," he said. But tonight's volunteers have yet to arrive. Other than a janitor vacuuming in the next room, Shively is alone with his phone lists.

"Fridays are kind of tough," he said. "Last week, we only had two people who could make it."

Most nights in San Francisco, he said he gets between five and ten volunteers. And on the weekends in Berkeley, he gets between 10 and 15. The callers work off of a script and are instructed to focus on only a few specific issues.

"We are not expressly encouraging people to vote against Bush," he said. "Just presenting information on where Bush and Kerry differ on a few issues. In my view, though, it is not very flattering to Bush."

The main issue that Peace Action is highlighting is nuclear weapons and nuclear testing. They say that Bush is interested in developing new nuclear weapons, while Kerry opposes it, and that Bush wants to resume underground nuclear testing in Nevada, while Kerry has worked in the Senate to pass the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

"I was surprised and pleased to hear the issue of nuclear proliferation brought up at the debates," Shively said.

For Shively, who recently moved to the Bay Area, doing this kind of work is a chance to affect the election without having to leave the state.

"I'm not getting paid much, but even if I wasn't paid, I would be doing this as a volunteer," he said. "I was thinking about going out to other states myself, but this is a way to get involved from here and still impact swing states."

A little after 6 p.m., the first volunteer arrives. It is Shively's girlfriend, Renee Shank. Slowly, though, more begin to trickle in. Two artists from San Francisco arrive. They're followed by a couple of science textbook editors who work in the city.

"Anything we can do to tip the balance," said Mary Anne Murray, one of the editors.

Shively goes over lines with one of the artists.

"Hello, my name is Arletta and I am a volunteer with Peace Action," the woman says. "We are contacting you and other members to make sure they are committed to voting on Tuesday. Can we count on you to get to the polls?"

"Good, good," Shively says.

He tells her that if they say, "No, I don't plan to vote," she should ask if them if they are aware of some of the major differences between Bush and Kerry. Then he launches into them: building nuclear weapons, working toward international cooperation on banning testing, cutting off aid to governments that commit human rights violations.

"Kevin has been so committed," said Gregory Gavin, an artist and educator in the city.

Gavin said that he doesn't really think that this kind of work is going to change anybody's mind, but that it is "more about making sure people vote."

"If nothing else, it has been heartening to see that a very inactive American left has become more involved," he said. He has seen many people get involved who were not politically engaged before.

That doesn't make cold calling any more fun.

"I've never been particularly fond of phone solicitations," Gavin said. "But desperate measures are called for."

Shank agrees.

"I don't particularly enjoy cold calling, but I'll do it 'for the cause,'" she said, with a self-deprecating fist pump.

Shively said that cold calling can be frustrating because they talk to only about one in 10 people that they call. And while people in general have been remarkably receptive and understanding, some of the undecided voters are starting to get annoyed with all of the attention they are getting.

"I can't imagine being an 'undecided' in Ohio," Shively said. "They probably get 8 to 10 calls a night."

He said that some of the people being called have resorted to leaving prerecorded messages on their answering machines.

"One message said, 'don't worry, everybody in this household is going to vote for Kerry,'" Shively said.

"This guy just told me that Nader was going to give him $100 for his vote," Shank said. "People are coming up with really ridiculous things to say because they have been getting called so much."