POLITICAL CAMPAIGNING
Response to the following problem:
Bob Gray is running for a seat in the House of Representatives from a very competitive district in Atlanta, Georgia. With six days to go in the campaign, he has 250 volunteers who can be assigned to either phone banks or door-to-door canvassing. The average time he expects a volunteer to spend on the campaign is 25 hours. The campaign manager can staff 20 telephones from 8:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. each day. On the average, 30 voters can be reached by phone contact each hour, whereas only 18 voters can be reached each hour by door-to-door canvassing. However, Bob wants at least one-third of the remaining volunteer hours to be used for personal door-to-door contacts and at least 15 phones to be used on a continuous basis during the remaining days of the campaign.
a. How many volunteer hours should be allocated to phone contacts and how many to door-to-door canvassing if Bob wishes the maximum number of voters to be contacted during the final six days of the campaign?
b. Suppose Bob's campaign manager feels that door-todoor contacts are twice as valuable in terms of swaying voter opinion as phone contacts. How many volunteer hours should be allocated to phone contacts and how many to door-to-door canvassing if Bob wishes to maximize the "value" of the contacts during the final six days of the campaign?