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FAIRBANKS — Countdown: 28 days.

With less than a month to go before voters mark their ballots at the polls, Obama campaigners are still recruiting Alaskans, while the McCain camp is confident Alaska will vote Republican.

The 49th state has cast votes reliably for the GOP since statehood. The only Democratic presidential candidate to win Alaska was Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Polls in early summer offered the Obama team hope in the Far North.

But McCain’s ratings increased, benefiting from a sizable bounce after the Aug. 29 announcement of Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate.

Polling conducted by Rasmussen Reports after the announcement gave McCain a significant lead, 64 to 33 percent, over Obama in Alaska. A survey by Ivan Moore Research of Anchorage offered similar results, with 54 percent of respondents saying they would vote for McCain-Palin and 35 percent for Obama-Biden.

The gap has closed somewhat, although McCain still enjoys a lead that essentially secures the state.

Rasmussen Reports released polling data Tuesday showing McCain with a 15-point lead in Alaska, 55 to 40 percent. Moore’s data reveals a similar lead for the McCain-Palin campaign, with 55 percent of those surveyed saying they’d vote for the Republican ticket, and 38 percent for the Democrats. Undecided voters slipped from 11 to 8 percent.

Nationally, Rasmussen showed Obama with 52 percent of the vote and McCain trailing with 44 percent.

Obama’s camp isn’t packing up yet, though, said Alaska communications director Nathan Osburn.

“Unfortunately, there have been some false reports that we’re not working hard here in Alaska — we are,” he said. “We are full steam ahead through Nov. 4, Alaskans. Everybody here in the state is so engaged this year in the election. That’s a great thing.”

Rallies in Fairbanks, Juneau and Anchorage on Saturday drew about 2,500 overall, including 400-500 in Fairbanks, he said. Almost 100 people registered to vote at the rallies, which were a last-minute push to register before the 30-day deadline.

Now, the push is to sign people up for absentee ballots.

“With the weather here in Alaska, and people having to work during the day, we want to make sure we can get those absentee ballots in their hands,” Osburn said.

The campaign also is encouraging Obama supporters to gather at debate-watching parties. Osburn said campaign staff have been to every “town, city or village with 2,000 or more,” a difficult outreach but also a “respect issue.”

“When you show up in a town that has never been touched by a presidential campaign, that makes an immediate impression,” he said. “People really appreciate that.”

Rick Gorka, regional communications director for the McCain campaign, said the team maintains an Alaska office, which runs telephone banks and helps states across the nation with campaign activities.

“We’re going to be working to get voters into the polls in Alaska to make sure we win by a large margin,” Gorka said, adding that the campaign is confident the state is securely red. “Alaska has only gone Democrat once in its history, and that was back in 1964.”

Palin made two home-state appearances in recent weeks, but that will be it — for either Republican candidate — through the election season, he said.

He discounted the Obama campaign activities.

“As long as they keep spending resources and time in a state they’re going to lose, that’s fine with us,” he said. “We wanted to maximize our time and resources. We don’t want to waste money.”