Hillman and Van Fossen may stand on different ends of the political spectrum, but both share a newfound sense of political activism—one sparked by the divisiveness of the 2000 Presidential election and the Iraq war.

“I’ve always been very interested in politics, but this past primary and this election have encompassed my first real active campaign,” said Hillman, who works at Sheldon Group, a public affairs company in Newport Beach. “The volunteers aren’t people who work in politics. They have a passion for the president.”

For intensely focused voters like Hillman and Van Fossen, getting their man into the White House depends on efforts far beyond casting a ballot on Election Day. They are shuttling in droves, canvassing the political landscapes of cities like Portland, Reno and Las Vegas—knocking on doors, handing out literature, driving voters to the polls, doing “anything and everything,” says Van Fossen.

Van Fossen, the lead singer of the underground heavy metal band Noctuary, who sports black clothing and waist-length hair, says this is his first time ever voting—his first time overlaps with record-breaking get-out-the-vote campaigns by both political parties. “I've only become seriously interested in politics over the course of this administration, and though I was eligible to vote in the last election, I was uninformed and uninterested. This all changed with the Iraq war. I've been a news junkie since,” he said.

Although Van Fossen says his band’s heavy metal music is too aggressive for the mainstream world, there are political links on the band’s website that appeal to what he describes as the masses. “I’m just trying to do my part to inform more people and get more people involved,” he said.

Jory Hecht, a U.C. Santa Barbara graduate student in geology, drove with a classmate to Las Vegas last night. This morning, they arrived to a big white tent in Northern Las Vegas filled with ACT volunteers and split up in teams of seven, each team assigned to walk one section of a precinct. Hecht, 24, who grew up in Berkeley, said he’s been involved in Central American politics, but this is his first real act of political involvement in the U.S.

“I want to do something for my own country,” he said. “It’s worth taking a day off from school. And I’ll catch up next week.”

Joye Wiley, 36, an immigration lawyer and Kerry supporter who flew out to Las Vegas last night from her home in Berkeley, said that until yesterday her contributions had been limited to financial donations. “We’re just about to knock on our first door,” she said, marking the first step of a 12-hour day. She arrived with a coworker from her law firm in San Francisco and said, “It’s not so much for me as it is for the cause.”

East Bay resident Judy Lloyd flew with Hillman into Oregon, a battleground captured by Democratic Presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000. Both are members of the California Women’s Leadership Association (CWLA)—a conservative group based in Orange County. “I’m involved in a ground game in Oregon that’s unprecedented,” said Lloyd, who is in her mid-forties. She describes herself as “extremely optimistic” about Bush’s re-election chances.

Julie Vandermost, head of the CWLA, said she’s encouraged her organization’s members to canvass not only out-of-state, but in-state as well. “We want to be there to help all the candidates all over the place, we want to be everything to everybody,” she said. “There are thousands of people going to different locations, it’s all about the numbers, you got to have the army.”

Others are just returning home from their political activities.

Dibsy Machta, a financial assistant from Berkeley, is one of 80 volunteers sent out to Reno by Service Employees International Union Local 250, the Oakland-based union that represents health care workers. She arrived back in Berkeley on Sunday from a weekend of canvassing in Reno. After phone banking and walking through neighborhoods, Machta said Reno was saturated with volunteers—“there were a gazillion people there,” she said.

Machta said she was not sure the onslaught of out-of-state volunteers would make much difference in the final vote. “The reality of the people we interacted with was that everyone was voting and that they had enough of the campaign in general,” she said. “Everyone knew what was going on. They didn’t need to be reminded to vote.”

Merv Field, head of the 60-year-old Field Poll, which has tracked 15 presidential elections, said that out-of-state volunteers traveling to other states to canvas might sometimes hurt rather than help a candidate’s campaign. He cited the out-of-state volunteers who campaigned in Iowa, during the presidential primaries, for Democratic hopeful Howard Dean. The volunteers may have damaged Dean’s campaign because they were perceived as “outlanders” to Iowans, according to Field. However, the culture shock may not be as marked between Nevada and California, he said.

In the 2000 Presidential elections, Bush carried 16 of 17 counties in Nevada. Gore carried only one—Clark County, which encompasses Las Vegas. Nevada seems to be getting much more attention this time around. The state has five electoral votes that could tip the scales.

Nevada’s one million registered voters are split 40 percent each among Republicans and Democrats. Democrats dominate in Clark County; Republicans control Reno and the rest of Northern Nevada.

“I’ve always been politically conscious, but not politically active,” said Orange County copywriter Yama Rahyar, who came with Van Fossen. “At this point there’s nothing else that can be done at the national or media level, so it’s entirely a ground game. I think the election depends on volunteers on the ground.”

Rahyar, who volunteered for the Howard Dean campaign, says he regressed to Internet activism after the Dean implosion. “I actually prefer to do something very purely practical like knocking on doors or driving voters to the poll,” he said.

Political enthusiasts like Van Fossen and Rahyar, who have lent their knuckles to door-to-door campaigning, believe they can really make a difference.

“I just hope my long hair and black clothing doesn't frighten people as I go door to door asking them to get to the polls,” said Van Fossen.