The Obama campaign already has at least 60 campaign organizers and staff in the field and is apparently just getting started. At a Tuesday night event in Raleigh, nine field organizers were introduced for Wake, Johnston and Franklin counties alone.

Heading the effort is Marc Farinella, 50, a veteran campaign consultant from Florida who has worked for such North Carolina candidates as U.S. Senate candidate Erskine Bowles and Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, during her 2004 re-election campaign.

The Obama campaign lists 50 events across North Carolina this week. Much of the activity involves voter registration efforts. The campaign takes credit for registering 150,000 new North Carolina voters before the May primary.

Howard Dean, the national Democratic chairman, will be in Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte on Friday as part of a voter registration drive.

The Obama campaign has also been raising money in North Carolina. A six-figure fundraiser was held last week at the Raleigh home of Ann and Wade Smith. Wade Smith is a former state Democratic chairman. Another Obama fundraiser is scheduled for Durham on July 30 for business leaders. It is being organized by John Crumpler, a Raleigh businessman and member of Obama's national finance committee. Like the previous event, it doesn't involve the candidate.

The sheer size of the Obama effort concerns Republicans.

"What bothers me is the intensity of the Obama vote and, to date, the lack of the grass-roots intensity of the Republican Party," said Marc Rotterman, a veteran Republican strategist in Raleigh. "That may change after the convention. Traditionally, Republicans do better in the fall."

On Monday, Russell Peck, a young GOP strategist, started work as state director for the McCain campaign. He has worked for the Florida GOP, the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004. The McCain effort plans to hire at least a half-dozen organizers in North Carolina, Blount said.

The campaign has already lined up chairmen in about 40 of North Carolina's largest counties, according to Blount.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.