Techniques such as microtargeting were foreign to the group, Weaver said.

“There may have been such a thing, but we didn’t know about it,” he said.

But last year, the group used microtargeting in support of Kentucky Democrat Steve Beshear’s successful campaign to unseat then-Gov. Ernie Fletcher. In the end, 83 percent of the state’s NEA members showed up at the polls to vote for Beshear.

The issue that has most energized the group’s membership and drawn alliances with other unions is No Child Left Behind, an anathema to the teachers’ union.

“That sucker has galvanized our members,” Weaver said.

In key battleground states, the group has conducted polling on the issue and found that opposing No Child Left Behind is a winner for its side. In Ohio, for example, 76 percent of the state’s NEA members are “strongly against” the education law, the NEA said.

That battleground focus on one of President Bush’s signature issues indicates that the group also plans to be actively involved with the presidential race.

Weaver said the group, which has not endorsed a candidate, met with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) Monday and plans to meet with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) next week.

Weaver said Clinton talked mostly issues, but she did ask about the union’s endorsement process and told Weaver she would like to have the group’s support.

Weaver said he is holding off before he makes a recommendation to the group about an endorsement.

“I’m going to hold off until I have what I need,” Weaver said.

But Weaver said his staff is in almost daily contact with the two campaigns.

The group has not met with the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), and Weaver said he would be surprised if the senator approached them about a meeting.

Weaver said he doesn’t think McCain wants to be perceived as having a relationship with a group that was once referred to by Rod Paige, former secretary of education for Bush, as a “terrorist organization.”

On top of that, Weaver said McCain’s perceived support for school vouchers, merit-based teacher pay and No Child Left Behind would leave him at odds with the organization.

If and when the group does endorse one of the Democratic candidates in the general election, Weaver promised that it would run aggressive contrast campaigns against McCain in key states.

Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said the NEA’s efforts targeting the presumptive Republican nominee were hardly a surprise.

“The fact that a liberal trade organization is going to attack the Republican nominee shouldn’t be news to anyone,” Diaz said.