"I'm a little bit nervous about doing it because I don't want them to vandalize my house," said DeJoy referring to his liberal neighbors. "But I'm not going to be ashamed about how I feel."

Like DeJoy, who was just visiting, the Republican volunteers campaigning for Bush know they are in the minority in California and especially in Alameda County. In 2000, Gore won 69 percent of the vote here. Only 24 percent of the voters cast ballots for President Bush. But long odds and political isolation discouraged few at the campaign headquarters.

David Whatley, who volunteered to walk precincts Union City where he lives, was fully aware of his rarefied credentials. "Absolutely. I mean, my gosh, I'm a 26-year-old Republican living in Alameda County."

Like Whatley, others are taking on political work for the first time. "We're seeing a tremendous amount of interest this year and a lot of new faces," said Anjali Lathi, the Alameda County Chair for the Bush-Cheney campaign. "The goal is to make a better showing than last time and we are hoping to help President Bush out with the popular vote."

One of those was Patricia Kite, a 64-year-old therapist "I'm helping work for what I believe in. The worst thing is to sit and do nothing."

First-time political volunteer Jana James, 35, expressed a common sentiment when she said she was compelled to volunteer because of this election's importance. President Bush, she said, can keep the nation safe.

"It's the first election after 9/11 and I personally believe this is World War III. I don't think it's going to stop," said James. "I don't think he makes decisions based on politics. I think he's a great leader in a time like this."

James said she is "nervously optimistic" about a Bush win but knows that a victory in California is unlikely. Two of her Bush-Cheney yard signs have been ripped apart.

Whatley, who voted for Bill Clinton in 1996 before becoming a born again Christian, said he understood why people in the Bay Area and elsewhere might be angry enough to tear up campaign signs. "A big portion of it has to do with the mainstream media which paints George W. Bush very badly," said Whatley.

Greg Dumlao, a 42-year-old corporate trainer, had a different theory. "It's not so much Bush himself as the Republican party. It's the stigma that people feel that [the Republicans] are not for the people, that they're rich. All they think about is they're for themselves. And not only are you rich, you're white and rich."

Said Lathi, "There's this knee jerk reaction to the fact that we're in this war. A knee jerk reaction to Republicans being in office. I think there's still some bitterness, people saying that he wasn't elected. I think the Republicans have more of an open mind. They're not nearly as vicious, and if they are, it's based on facts and not stereotypes."

Across the room, a volunteer's laptop screen showed a doctored photo of Osama Bin Laden standing behind a Kerry campaign sign.

Not everyone was so partisan. Seventeen-year-old Chris Nguyen spent four hours walking up and down hills to put Republican flyers on doorknobs. He said that if he was old enough to vote, he wouldn't know who to support. He was just fulfilling a government class assignment to volunteer for a civic activity.

But Nguyen was the exception in a room filled with people who were far from apathetic.

Two 18-year-olds, Sandip Kumar and Gurider Patel, said more young people would vote this year than in the past. Kumar, with his faux-diamond earring, baggie pants, and basketball shoes, defied the Republican stereotype Dumlao worried about.

"This year [young people] will vote because of the 9/11 thing and the gas prices," said Kumar. Both men plastered Bush-Cheney stickers onto their chests before leaving.
Updated 11/2/04 10:32 PM