Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are taking different tacks on voter drives.

Obama is running a traditional voter drive to sign up new voters by Friday's deadline, followed by a push on one-stop voting between April 17 and May 3.

Clinton is waiting to focus on one-stop voting.

One reason for the difference could be the types of voters each campaign hopes to get. Obama's campaign has done well with college students — who often have not registered to vote before — as well as unaffiliated voters, while Clinton is focusing on a more traditional Democratic base.

Under state law, voters can register or re-register to a new party by Friday, but at one-stop sites voters who have already registered in the past cannot switch parties.

"We're bringing Republicans and Democrats and independents onto the voter rolls so that they can have a voice in the primary," said Obama spokesman Dan Leistikow.

Clinton spokeswoman Carly Lindauer said that while they are not formally signing up new voters right now, they have answered questions about registration through the N.C. Ask Me campaign.

"There is an enormous pool of unaffiliated voters, and I think those are giong to be critical to both campaigns in this election," she said.

Hillary Clinton's campaign opened her North Carolina headquarters this evening.

About 100 people attended the hourlong kickoff, including Wake County commissioners Lindy Brown and Betty Lou Ward, fundraiser Richard Sullivan and former Democratic Party chairman Tom Hendrickson, who owns the building near Raleigh's trendy Glenwood South area.

Hendrickson noted that the Clinton campaign brought in organizer Ace Smith to head up its North Carolina campaign, after similar efforts in California and Texas.

"They have sent us the A-team," he said.

Spokeswoman Cary Lindauer said that the campaign will open about a dozen offices around the state in the next few weeks, beginning with Charlotte. The state headquarters will also double as the Raleigh field office.

The crowd also included Gene Conti, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation from 1998 to 2000; Mike Schaul, a member of the N.C. Democratic Party's executive committee; and noted open space advocate Sig Hutchinson, who said he came because of his wife.

The guest who attracted the most attention, however, was Hendrickson's long-haired Chihuahua, Izzy. Several people in the campaign took turns holding the puppy during the event.

Hillary Clinton chose Wake Tech to highlight her approach to the economy.

"She's going to be talking about the new economy and reintegrating workers into new jobs," said Clinton spokeswoman Carly Lindauer.

Clinton will also by speaking today at Forsyth Community College in Winston-Salem and at a high school in Fayetteville.

Carly Lindauer is ready for a new state.

The recently appointed spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton's state campaign previously held similar positions in Missouri, Wisconsin and Vermont. She also served as deputy spokeswoman in New Hampshire.

Before the campaign, Lindauer worked for Rabinowitz Dorf Communications, a public relations firm in Washington, D.C., helping nonprofit religious and ethnic groups get their message out.

A native of Long Island, Lindauer was heading to North Carolina today after visiting with her family. 

She said the campaign will open offices across the state soon, and she expects visits by Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton in the coming weeks. 

"We are expecting to wage an aggressive and competitive campaign across the ground in North Carolina," she said.