Ohio is a battleground in the presidential race, and here is the view on the front line: Republican John McCain’s ‘get-out-the-vote’ operation has struggled to build momentum, and it appears outgunned by his Democratic rival Barack Obama’s strategy.

The respective campaigns of both the presidential candidates have mobilized armies of volunteers and paid staff for the final push across the state, and both claim their efforts to target likely voters are more sophisticated and more efficient than in 2004.

McCain has targeted this wealthy area just north of Columbus as one of 15 counties in Ohio, where he needs to drive up his vote tally if he is to beat Obama on Tuesday in this must-win state.

Meanwhile, Obama has taken his fight directly into suburban and rural GOP strongholds in an effort to curb McCain's potential margins. Obama has 82 offices in the state, nearly twice as many as McCain. Labor unions are backing his effort with more than 12,000 volunteers.

Nancy Martorano, associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton, commented: “McCain does not have the kind of ground organization that Obama has, not even close.”

Nevertheless, Obama and his aides have a watchful approach in the last hours of the campaign. They realize that the road to the White House runs through Ohio and its 20 Electoral College votes, and have put in place an eleventh-hour strategy that is brutal in its scale and intensity.