Mainers and others are planning home-based parties for the Bush/Cheney ticket.

TURNER – As a farmer, Nancy Ricker is usually in bed by 8 p.m.

But on Thursday, she plans to be wide awake at that hour, serving homemade apple pie and coffee to friends and relatives.

Ricker is one of 107 Mainers scheduled to host a Bush/Cheney ’04 campaign kickoff party.

When asked by a campaign worker to host a party, Ricker said she had to think it over.

“Spring is a really busy time for a farmer,” she said.

She and her husband harvest 450 acres of apples and 12 acres of cranberries at the eighth-generation family farm. Springtime also marks the kickoff of farming season.

She relented, deciding it was important to show support for President George Bush, who, she said, is “pro-business, and we believe in a lot of the things he’s done.”

Nationally, nearly 5,000 similar home parties are planned for Thursday night, said Kevin Madden, spokesman for the campaign’s Northeast region. That is more than double the 2,004 parties hoped for when the event was launched last summer, he said. Although the parties have been held statewide before, he said this will be the first time they have been coordinated nationally.

The parties will be small and informal and are largely organizational. Hosts may not raise money for the campaign. Each host must foot the entire bill for the party – not to exceed $1,000 per party.

Packages of bumper stickers, signs, buttons and other campaign memorabilia can be purchased from the campaign’s Web site for party hosts. But none of the proceeds go to the campaign, Madden said.

The concept behind the national grassroots event is to engender enthusiasm among the friends and neighbors of Bush supporters for their candidate.

“There’s sort of a viral organizing effect,” he said.

Ricker said she has invited about 30 Republicans and Democrats to chat “about why we support President Bush … and to try to convince some of my relatives who are Democrats to switch to Bush.”

In addition to political chatter, partygoers are expected to dial in on a conference call with Vice President Richard Cheney. He will thank organizers and field questions from supporters and volunteers, Madden said.

Ricker said she has her speaker phone ready and plans today to start rolling out five pies.

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