Obama's SR volunteers go after independents

Phones were buzzing at Sen. Barack Obama's Santa Rosa headquarters Saturday, as campaign volunteers scrambled to line up votes before Tuesday's primary.

The volunteers were targeting political independents, said Eric Gruber, an Obama field organizer.

California's "decline-to-state" voters are allowed to cast ballots

for Democratic Party candidates in the presidential primary but not for Republicans.

The state's GOP barred independents from its primary.

Obama's campaign is targeting independents because they helped him win in Iowa.

"The more people learn about Obama, the more likely they are to switch over from Hillary Clinton," Gruber said.

About 3 million of California's 15.5 million voters are independents.

Fueled by doughnuts, candy bars and apples, the Obama volunteers were trying to contact 15,000 independents.

Obama, whose Santa Rosa office opened Jan. 20 at the Larkfield shopping center, is the only presidential contender to have a campaign headquarters in Sonoma County.

Clinton took her campaign to Los Angeles on Saturday, while Obama gave speeches in Idaho. Her campaign is counting on a payoff from efforts to identify and contact absentee voters, who could account for more than half the ballots Tuesday.

Gruber, a 26-year-old student at University of California's Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, said Obama is making steady inroads into Clinton's California base.

"His message is so strong," Gruber said. "It really brings people together."

You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.