Who will win the ground game today getting voters to the polls for the Wake County school board elections?

As noted in today's article, both political parties and a number of left-leaning and right-leaning groups have been trying to turn out the vote. In this off-year election, something as low as a 20 percent turnout would be really high.

Mack Paul, chairman of the Wake County Democratic Party, said they're close to their goal of raising $85,000 as part of their coordinated campaign to turn out the vote and retake the school board. He said the money has allowed them to hire paid campaign staff and open field offices.

The Wake County Republican Party is promoting reductions in transportation costs and decreases in student suspension rates and school violence to encourage supporters heading into Tuesday's school board election.

In the election edition of The Elephant Express on Wednesday, Wake GOP Chairwoman Susan Bryant credits the school board majority's elimination of the diversity policy for a $7.3 million reduction in transportation costs over the past two years.

Bryant also points to a 43 percent reduction in long-term suspensions, a 16 percent drop in short-term suspensions and a 54 percent drop in school crime figures.

Wake County school board candidate Heather Losurdo holds the clear fundraising lead for the District 3 seat.

New campaign reports filed this week show that Losurdo had raised $40,244.55 as of Sept. 26 with $9,522.60 on hand. School board member Kevin Hill reported raising $24,055 with $12,570.69 on hand. Jennifer Mansfield is well behind with $5,802.19 raised and $2,513.18 on hand.

Some of the disparity between Losurdo and Hill is mitigated by the spending that outside groups have put into the race attacking her.

The Wake County Republican Party is taking a blame the media strategy to energize their base for the upcoming school board elections.

In this week's issue of the Elephant Express, Wake GOP Chairwoman Susan Bryant contends today that the news media is being "dishonest" in not covering the school board's accomplishments. For instance, she contends that a recent article didn't report that Wake County's average SAT scores are above the national average because "the N&O simply wasn't about to print anything that might reflect positively on the job the Wake County School Board was doing."

That story focused on how the state was doing on the SAT. It didn't mention Wake's performance or that of any area district. It also didn't mention that Chapel Hill-Carrboro has an even high score.

The Wake County Republican Party is calling votes for Democratic-backed school board candidates support for "the failed policies and programs of the past."

Today in the latest issue of The Elephant Express, Wake GOP Chairwoman Susan Bryant pushes heavily on the diversity issue as being a difference between the Wake County school board candidates backed by both political parties.

"The only certainty a parent has that their child won’t attend 3 schools in 5 years will come by not going back to the policies of the old board!" Bryant writes. "Let’s just call it like it was. These people (Democrats), who claim to be concerned for the students, were trying to bus children all across the county to balance out the family incomes of the children attending any one school."

Wake County Democratic Party Chairman Mack Paul is accusing the GOP of trying to "deceive" voters by saying President Barack Obama's campaign is involved in the school board races.

In a press release today, Paul says statements made this week by Wake County Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Bryant about the involvement of Obama and other "national forces" in school board elections is false. He calls it "an attempt to distract voters from the real issues and the record of the Ron Margiotta-led Majority."

"Clearly, Wake County Republican Chair Susan Bryant is dead-set on running a campaign that has nothing to do with the actual issues facing our schools," Paul said in the release. "The Wake Republicans, and their special interest allies, continue to mislead the voters of Wake County by sending them mailers filled with wild claims because they understand how unpopular their Tea Party agenda has become."

What do Tuesday's national Republican congressional wins and today's visit to the Triangle by President Barack Obama have in common?

How about the Wake County school board? That's the connection that Wake County Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Bryant points to today in this week's issue of the Elephant Express.

"The twin wins for the GOP mean the Republican resurgence which began right here in Wake County two years ago is alive and well and still gaining momentum nationally," Bryant writes. "Yes. We started it."

Republicans and Democrats are going after each other in another round of squabbling about the Wake County school board elections.

In this week's issue of the Elephant Express, Wake County Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Bryant responds to state Democratic Party Chairman David Parker's Aug. 20 call to action to his party's members.

Parker blames the changes in Wake schools on the "vicious fanaticism" of those carrying on Jesse Helms' legacy. In the process, Parker invokes the Tea Party, the Koch brothers and Wake County Commissioners Chairman Paul Coble.

Wake County Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Bryant is disputing the idea that the school board races were ever really non-partisan.

In the latest issue of the Elephant Express on Wednesday, Bryant takes Bob Geary of the liberal Independent weekly to task for a recent blog post accusing the GOP of making the Wake County school board races partisan.

"We blamed the non-partisan Democratic-controlled school board for the well-documented failures of the past," Bryant writes. "And, the Democrats continue to accuse our Republican members of the school board of all kinds of sins as they seek to take all seats on the board in the next election."

The Wake County Republican Party has announced its endorsements for this fall's school board and municipal elections.

As expected, the press release sent today shows that the GOP-endorsed school board candidates are Heather Losurdo in District 3, Venita Peyton in District 4, Cynthia Matson in District 5, Donna Williams in District 6 and Ron Margiotta in District 8. This makes official the split in the opposition to Kevin Hill in District 3 with the Wake Schools Community Alliance having backed Jennifer Mansfield.

“The Wake County Republican Party is pleased to present these well qualified candidates on our endorsed slate," said Wake GOP Chairwoman Susan Bryant in the press release. "The process of recruiting and endorsing took over a year, with hard work from a strong recruitment committee. I am pleased with the final endorsements by the Wake County GOP Executive Board.

The Party is unified around this slate and we are looking forward to helping them achieve victory in the upcoming municipal elections this fall!"