Kerry, Bush crowd mailboxes, both real and cyber, in a push to win votes and funds.

By Paul Barbagallo

“Mass-advertising time is getting more expensive, and it’s getting harder to reach people with it,” says Laurie Moskowitz, a principal at FieldWorks, a Washington, D.C.-based political consulting firm specializing in grassroots organizing and field strategies. “Towards the end [of the election], when all you see is wall-to-wall commercials, it doesn’t gain a candidate that much marginal impact to run a spot. Candidates need to find other ways of reaching people.”