As the presidential campaign in Florida enters the homestretch, Democrat Barack Obama is cranking up a sophisticated and far-reaching voter turnout operation, while Republican John McCain scrambles to regain his footing in a state long considered a safe bet.

On Tuesday, McCain announced that he will campaign Friday in Miami and Melbourne, while his high-profile stand-in, Gov. Charlie Crist, went on FOX News to tout him as the ''comeback kid'' and dismiss suggestions that he's cooling on the Republican nominee. The Florida Republican Party chairman also sounded the alarm by embarking on a statewide tour to check on campaign offices and huddle with former party chiefs.

Tension has been rising between some top Florida Republicans and the McCain camp as polls show him slipping in a state vital to his White House bid.

''Nobody wants to wake up on Nov. 5 and see that we lost Florida by a point or two because we were distracted, instead of being focused on John McCain,'' said Ana Navarro, a Miami fundraiser who advises the campaign on Hispanic outreach. ``We are calling all hands on deck.''

The nation's largest battleground state will fall to the candidate who can churn out the most votes. Mimicking the strategy perfected by President Bush's reelection campaign, the Obama camp is trying to mobilize party faithful while paring votes from communities and demographic groups that lean toward the opposition.

One potential advantage for the Republican Party is its well-established practice of racking up absentee ballots. The evening before McCain confirmed his Florida trip, about a dozen campaign volunteers in a Pompano Beach office building dialed voters who had requested ballots by mail.

It was a Monday, so the volunteers were calling women. Veterans are targeted on Wednesdays, Hispanic voters on Sundays.

''We got a banked vote for John McCain!'' cried volunteer Cindy Salazar after hanging up the phone.

The GOP is leading in mail-in absentee ballot requests statewide -- 792,942 to 573,388 -- while the Democratic Party is focusing on early voting at the polls, which starts Monday.

Faintly cooled by a circulating fan, about 100 Obama volunteers crammed into a Fort Lauderdale deli Saturday morning to get their marching orders: Squeeze more than 576,000 votes out of Broward County, surpassing 2004 nominee John Kerry's tally by 122,565.

''No one wants to hear policy jargon,'' said get-out-the-vote coordinator Andy Saxson, explaining to volunteers how to push undecided voters off the fence. 'The best persuasion starts off with, `This is why I support Barack Obama,' because people can't argue with that.''

OBAMA'S STRATEGY

The meeting was among several Obama strategy sessions held with volunteers around the state over the weekend, establishing a network of ''neighborhood teams'' to urge voters over the phone and on doorsteps to cast their ballots immediately. During a conference call with Florida reporters on Tuesday, Michelle Obama touted the campaign's hot line to help voters find the nearest early voting locations.

''In previous years, we have made the assumption that if people were registered, they would go vote,'' said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff, who worked on the Kerry campaign. ``We are not making that mistake again.''

Starting next week, the campaign aims to catch voters from all walks of life by sending ''town criers'' on city buses, offering shuttle service from college campuses to early voting locations, leafleting at beauty salons and barber shops, and hosting barbecues after church services.

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