PHOENIX, Ariz. --The selection of what folks here call the Valley of the Sun as the site of the final presidential debate was a recognition of the Southwest's tremendous population growth, crowned by Phoenix passing Philadelphia as the nation's fifth-largest city.
Heavy registration of new voters in Arizona, with 10 electoral votes, and neighboring New Mexico, with five, made this corner of the country an early battleground this year, bringing more political attention to the states than anytime in the past.
But the John Kerry campaign recently pulled its ads from Arizona airwaves to concentrate on other swing states, including New Mexico, in a move widely interpreted as an admission that Arizona was beyond reach. Democratic state Chairman Jim Pederson says, however, the aggressive registration of new, first-time voters can dispel "the myth of Arizona as forever a conservative Republican state."
Both President Bush and Mr. Kerry touched down in Arizona and New Mexico on the eve of Wednesday's debate, knowing that, as in 2000, one or more small states could decide the election Nov. 2.
With the debates over, the hard work to finish the sale now falls not only on the candidates but also on the legions of campaign workers, paid and volunteer, who both sides say constitute the largest field offices ever assembled in both states.
Republicans in Arizona, which Mr. Bush won by 6 percent over Democrat Al Gore four years ago, are nevertheless nervously eyeing a rejuvenation in the state Democratic Party that began two years ago with the election of Gov. Janet Napolitano.
Regarded since the 1960s as "Goldwater Country" under the leadership of Sen. Barry Goldwater, Arizona was a key incubator of conservative Republicanism. After Harry S. Truman carried the state in 1948, the only Democrat able to break the Republican hold was Bill Clinton in 1996. And the junior Mr. Bush brought it back into the GOP column four years later.
But the Democrats are determined to use the November vote to dispel "the myth" that Arizona is safe for the Republicans.
Mr. Pederson and the Kerry campaign, headed by Doug Wilson, who ran the state for Mr. Clinton in 1996, have 30 campaign offices across this huge state in an organization that Mr. Wilson calls "probably the most meticulous and focused in my political life."
