SOUTH PORTLAND – President Bush’s sister wants Maine Republicans to know that even though there’s no doubt whom they’ll nominate for president, it’s still important they campaign.

“We need to knock on doors and make those phone calls,” Dorothy Bush Koch told party members from Cumberland County who met Saturday to select delegates to the nominating conventions.

In her speech at Southern Maine Community College, Koch said her brother has “a great record on women’s issues.”

“Republicans should work hard,” she said, “so we can celebrate a George Bush victory in Maine.”

The 21 Cumberland County communities that caucused in South Portland were the largest Republican gathering of Maine’s caucus season. Nine other Republican caucuses were held Saturday, and eight more towns held caucuses Sunday.

State Rep. Kevin Glynn, R-South Portland, who serves as Cumberland County GOP chairman, said that since Bush is assured the nomination, “we’re getting a good chance to show that no local or state office in this county will lack a Republican candidate.”

Maine Republicans began caucusing in January and will finish their work next month. The state’s Democrats caucused Feb. 8, choosing U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as their choice to go up against President Bush in the general election.

This year, the state’s Bush supporters will have “a very close race” on their hands, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Saturday. “It’s going to be hard-fought, but in the end I think President Bush will prevail in Maine.”

Statewide, Democrats claim about 298,000 of Maine’s registered voters, while Republicans have about 277,000. The Green Independent Party has about 16,000 registered voters.

The largest bloc of Maine’s 950,000 voters is the 358,000 people enrolled in no political party.