Jim Kuhnhenn, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Speak Up

DENVER - Forgive the 75,000 people massing at Invesco Field Thursday if their thumbs are bit weary by the time Barack Obama takes the stage for a triumphant acceptance of his presidential nomination.

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Chris Carlson

Unidentified spectators take cover from the afternoon sun as they wait for the start of the final night of the Democratic National Convention at Denver's Invesco Field, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008.

For hours before he makes his entrance, these supporters will text message their friends and make phone calls from specially tailored call sheets as part of an unprecedented effort to mobilize voters and get nonvoters to register.

The speech itself may or may not become a seminal moment in the campaign. But this effort to combine telecommunications, microtargeting techniques and Obama's known ability to draw a crowd could be remembered as a shrewd and groundbreaking calculation to expand Obama's vote base.

Obama's campaign has identified 55 million voting age Americans across the country who are not registered to vote. It has done this by comparing registration lists with lists of potential voters gleaned from consumer databases the same way credit card companies track people's spending.

Campaign officials estimates more than two-thirds would vote for Obama.

Thursday, as the crowd grew at Invesco Field, a towering projection screen at one end of the stadium flashed a giant map of the United States. The screen urged people to send a text message identifying their top issue - education, environment, etc. - and told that each text message would make their city glow brighter on the map.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told the crowd that Republicans had wondered why the Obama camp moved the Democratic convention to the stadium for its final night. "I think it's time we taught them a lesson about how to win an election."

"Every day, every hour is critical," he said. "The stakes in this election are too big. We need all of you. We have to out-hustle, out-work, out-think them."

With fast approaching voter registration deadlines in key battleground states, the campaign is furiously using its high-tech gadgetry and vast data bases to make sure potential Obama supporters are registered.

"We know we need to expand the electorate," said Jenny Backus, an Obama spokeswoman at the convention.

The campaign initially planned to have the Invesco crowd use their cell phones to reach out to voters and nonvoters. But Backus said such an endeavour would have overwhelmed Denver cell systems. Instead, the campaign has set up about 130 telephones throughout the stadium. Attendees encircle the tables, section by section and take turns making calls.

At the same time, the Colorado Democratic party is mounting its own drive, with stadium volunteers placing calls to Colorado voters who have been identified as undecided in the presidential contest.

While the outreach to voters and nonvoters is by itself a useful tactic, the calls will generate useful lists of phone numbers,many of them identified by the specific issue of interest to the person on that end of the call.

"It's a data gathering exercise as well," Backus said.