Mark Dann, the local organizer for Liberty PA, was among those who spent Saturday going door-to-door making sure residents were registered. While only 10 new voters were registered, Liberty PA plans to recontact those people to make sure they follow through and actually vote.

Renee Gilinger, state director for Liberty PA, was in Allentown all day, but because there was an event going on for Gov. Ed Rendell at the same time, it was difficult for her to find volunteers to go door-to-door. Canvassing efforts in Pittsburgh were a washout due to severe storms.

Gilinger admitted it was challenging to reach people in other parts of the state to spread the Liberty PA Democratic lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) message.

Liberty City endorses and supports local candidates, while Liberty PA focuses on statewide candidates. Both are grassroots organizations and though the re-election of Rendell sits very high on their list of priorities, they are throwing more of their efforts behind defeat of their archnemesis, incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.

Santorum has earned the enmity of the LGBT community with many of his very conservative positions. The shirts they wear when canvassing bear anti-Santorum messages.

The two efforts, however, may go hand in hand; Santorum is a motivating force to get people out to the polls, but once they're in the voting booth, they can vote for Rendell.

The gubernatorial race concerns the organizations: There is the perception that Rendell already has the election in the bag, and his Republican opponent, Lynn Swann, will fade into oblivion. Complacency can cause people to stay home.

"We know that the polls now show a strong lead with Bob Casey and Rendell," said Gilinger, "but we also know that those same polls could change in the fall."

Reaching and connecting with voters outside Pennsylvania's major cities has been a challenge for the group. "We don't have much of a base in Allentown," said Gilinger. "Not as much as we have in Philly, Pittsburgh or Harrisburg. Allentown is tough."

The voter-registration lists that Liberty City and Liberty PA rely on come from America Votes, a national grassroots voter mobilization and education effort that tries to channel progressives to register to vote to defeat conservatives.

Liberal groups and unions such as ACORN, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Emily's List, Human Rights Campaign, NARAL Pro-Choice America, NAACP National Voter Fund, Jewish Democratic Council and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund are just some of the members of the coalition that America Votes has put together.

America Votes is also targeting undecided voters nationally with more than 40,000 volunteers, millions of phone calls, mailings and one-to-one conversations with voters.

It has a big Pennsylvania presence mainly because of the state's split political personality.

Whether they be Democrat or moderate Republican, voters from cities in the east and surrounding counties and Pittsburgh will most likely vote against the conservative candidates. The rest of the state, commonly called the "T" after its geographic shape, is composed of many traditional conservative Republican voters who could end up swinging the state to the Republicans if they show strong numbers come the Nov. 7 general election.

Gilinger said that while Republicans are busy running around trying to eliminate same-sex marriage, most people don't really care. The Republicans seem to be better at creating buzzwords, like "family values," that carry their message and resonate with the noncitified, than actually identifying issues that will bring voters to the polls.

"I travel around the state a lot and people are more concerned with the economy and jobs than they are about two people of the same sex marrying," Gilinger said. "It looks like now the top issue is immigration for the Republicans. Maybe they'll latch onto that and leave gay marriage alone." (m_patel@citypaper.net)