There are lots of campaign volunteers, but what sets Randy Blanchette, 34, of Auburn, apart is the amount of time he’s donating. Blanchette is volunteering full time, and then some, at the downtown Lewiston Democratic campaign headquarters.

Just about every day Blanchette comes into the office at 8 a.m. and stays until past dark, often 10:30 p.m. He plans to continue that pace until the election.

The work he does ranges from phone calls to greeting people to cleaning the office. Because he is unemployed, he has the time now, Blanchette said. He has volunteering for John Kerry and John Edwards “because it’s time for a change. They have the most positive message.” One issue important to Blanchette is jobs and the economy. “I was a truck driver and truck driver trainer, but the fuel prices killed me.” Drivers are paid by the mile, not the hour, and freight prices are too low, he said.

A lifelong Democrat who grew up hearing about how his father shook hands with John Kennedy in 1960, Blanchette said the pace is picking up. “It’s crunch time. We’re working on getting out the vote.”

Mrs. Edwards talks

While campaigning at the Wallingford apple orchard in Auburn Saturday, Elizabeth Edwards said that Maine’s lost jobs under President Bush, but Republicans insist that “everything’s going great, the economy has turned around, we’re building jobs.’ Well, tell that to the people in Maine who lost 2,500 jobs after the Republican convention,” she said.

To President Bush, Maine’s 2,500 lost jobs “is a little bitty number,” said Edwards, the wife of Democrat vice presidential candidate John Edwards. She asked supporters to count the houses as they drive home and see whether they add up to 2,500. “It won’t come close. Those houses and the people in those houses are real to John Kerry.”

President Bush’s administration has said that outsourcing “is good for us.” The crowd booed. “John Kerry thinks that fighting for our jobs is a patriotic thing to do. He thinks it’s part of the job description.” The crowd cheered. While in Maine, Edwards contributed to the economy: She went shopping at L.L. Bean.

Money race

In the race for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat, Democratic incumbent Mike Michaud is far ahead of Republican challenger Brian Hamel not only in the polls but also in the fund-raising.

As of the beginning of October, Michaud had raised $1.185 million compared to Hamel’s $497,837. Of that, Michaud had spent $874,044; Hamel, $236,471, as reported by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Going into the final month of campaigning, that left Michaud with $324,664 in cash, less than $100,000 more than Hamel’s $261,363 cash on hand.

By staff writers Bonnie Washuk and Christopher Williams.

Roughly 43 percent of Michaud’s money came from individual donors compared to 80 percent of Hamel’s.