Boston University political groups are pushing hard to rally votes for their candidates and get students involved in the campaign, group organizers say, as the Democratic presidential candidates continue to square off in caucuses and primaries throughout the country.

BU for John Kerry and BU for Howard Dean are planning a number of activities in the coming weeks to promote their candidates before this summer’s Democratic National Convention, according to leaders from the organizations.

BU for Dean President Damien Ma said his group has several activities planned to boost its candidate’s visibility and support before the next group of primaries, scheduled to take place in Wisconsin, Maine and Michigan this weekend. Ma said the states will be crucial because they all have a large number of delegates.

“We hope that by Wisconsin this will become a two-man race between Dean and Kerry,” said the CAS and College of Communication senior.

Dean may need the assistance. The candidate announced Thursday that he will drop out of the race if he does not win the Wisconsin primary, according to campaign emails.

Ma said his group will be setting up a table at the George Sherman Union next week to register students for the March 2 Massachusetts primary, and group members are planning to visit Suffolk University, Emerson College and Harvard University next week to campaign for Dean, he said.

The group will also be meeting Dean supporters from other colleges in front of City Hall and then going to different areas of the city to register voters and distribute campaign literature, he said.

BU for Kerry President Samantha Shusterman said her group, which boasts about 340 active members, has a major Kerry campaign event planned for March but is waiting for permission from the Student Activities Office before revealing any details.

Shusterman and other members of her group have been manning the phones at Kerry’s Boston headquarters convincing voters in states with upcoming primaries to vote for the Massachusetts senator.

Sixty-five BU students traveled to New Hampshire over a span of four days before the state’s primary last week to campaign for Kerry. In New Hampshire, BU students staffed three Kerry national campaign offices where they made calls to convince people to vote for Kerry, organized get-out-the-vote drives and communicated with other party leaders, the College of Arts and Sciences junior said. According to Shusterman, Boston University students working during the New Hampshire primary far outnumbered students from other Boston-area colleges.

Shusterman said she has noticed more students paying attention to Kerry since he emerged as the race’s front-runner after victories in seven of the nine states that have held primaries or caucuses so far.

“I think people like to put their support behind a winner and many are taking a second look at Kerry and becoming more informed,” she said.

Although Ma said he is disappointed that Kerry has emerged as the front-runner in the Democratic race, his group is planning to keep fighting. BU for Dean will be working hard in Massachusetts to win a share of the state’s 130 delegates. Any winnings in the Bay State would be satisfying because it is Kerry’s home state, he said.

Both groups are typical grassroots organizations that rely on their own funds, rather than on money from the Students Activities Office or official state campaigns, according to group leaders. Although SAO pitches in for photocopying costs for both groups, most funding comes out of members’ own pockets.

Shusterman said while her group has permission from Kerry’s national campaign headquarters to use their photocopier and phone lines, it does not directly receive funds from them.

Likewise, Ma said that when he first started BU for Dean in May 2003, members paid for all group costs out of their own pockets. Since then, Massachusetts for Howard Dean has provided the organization some campaign paraphernalia, like stickers and buttons, he said.

Although several BU Democratic groups are the only ones getting active at the moment, College Republicans President Andrew Trznadel said his club will soon be joining the election craze. Trznadel, a CAS junior, said the BU College Republicans are in the process of organizing a “Students for Bush” campaign, which will include holding pro-Bush signs on campus, distributing campaign fact sheets and organizing get-out-the-vote drives.

He said members will also be making trips to campaign headquarters in different states where they will participate in campaign promotions like phone banking and envelope stuffing.

“The polls have been saying that Kerry could [become the next president], but the numbers can’t be trusted because Bush really hasn’t been campaigning yet,” he said.