They followed an unofficial set of rules for canvassing neighborhoods, a staple of the get-out-the-vote efforts that were in full swing across Georgia with just 72 hours before Election Day: Knock so you can be heard, but not too loudly. Grin. Wave. And never crowd a door too tight.
"We're endorsing the Democratic ticket," Teamster steward James Davis told resident Lynn Hardwick.
Hardwick was an easy sell. He's already voting a straight Democratic ticket on Election Day.
"Move on to some place where you can change a mind, because your work is done here," he said.
With time short, Republicans and Democrats are making tens of thousands of person-to-person visits and phone calls with the goal of clinching undecided votes and turning out the party faithful.
In the Democratic stronghold of metro Atlanta, the AFL-CIO organized nearly 200 union members to clinch support for Barnes. Organizers said they've already knocked on 22,000 doors. Meanwhile, volunteers back at a union office were using 40 phone lines - including a specialized computer-run system brought in by truck - to make 100,000 phones calls by Tuesday.
Davis and other volunteers were told the race is tight.
"We're in a position now where we can actually swing the election," Davis said, as he walked between houses. "So from here until Nov. 2, it's going to be about getting people to the polls and hopefully getting them to vote the right way."
Barnes visited a hall full of those cheering union supporters, reiterating his campaign promise that state-funded work will go to employees and firms in Georgia. He pleaded for their support, using words he said were inspired by a country music song.
"I need you this Tuesday, I want you next Tuesday," Barnes said. "I gotta have you next Tuesday."
Republican volunteers were running their own get-out-the-vote effort across the state, including at the headquarters of the Cobb County GOP. Barnes lives in Cobb County but failed to carry it in 2002 when he was voted out of office after a single term.
County Republicans want to make sure that history repeats itself. Volunteers sat at a long table Saturday calling voter after voter seeking support for Deal. Their goal was to make nearly 6,000 phone calls.
As they dialed, Republican precinct captains canvassed their own neighborhoods. Others sorted through two dozen stacks of GOP signs and shuttled them to busy intersections, highway ramps and anywhere else a Republican contacted by phone or in person was willing to have them.
"The more visibility, the better," said volunteer Helma Clark, whose husband was fastening a "NOBAMA, NO BARNES" sign.
After a day of delivering signs from the headquarters, Clark planned to host a party at her home where additional volunteers would call several thousand likely voters named on a 24-page list.
Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson thanked the volunteers during a quick visit between campaign stops. He said he believes in the power of personal appeals.
"The TV commercials are flooding the air, the signs are going up everywhere," he said. "But in the end, it's that personal contact, when one volunteer talks to another voter and convinces them to go to the polls and vote, that's what we're working on now."
Off in a conference room, former state lawmaker George Grindley used a cell phone to call Cobb County Republicans. After reaching several voicemail messages, he dialed through to a fellow Republican who said he had already cast an early ballot for Deal.
"Have you?" Grindley said. "Fantastic. Thank you for your service."
He knows from experience that turnout matters. In 2000, Democrat Terry Johnson unseated Grindley from the state House of Representatives by 216 votes, or less than 2 percent of the total ballots cast in the race.
"Some elections come down to such a few" votes, Grindley said. "I just want to know that I left everything on the field."
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