WASHINGTON -- Write your congressmen. That's what constituents are told to do when they want their voices heard. And the upcoming battle in the Senate to confirm a Supreme Court nominee provides an opportunity for that type of civic activism beyond the ballot box.

Even though Senate Judiciary Committee hearings aren't likely to begin until sometime in early September, after the August congressional recess, special interest groups already are jockeying for position with massive correspondence campaigns -- letters, e-mails and phone calls -- in an attempt to sway influential committee members like Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley.

But Republicans and Democrats alike say they are not easily swayed, especially on issues like abortion, one of the main debates driving liberal and conservative activists to contact senators.

Since Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement on July 1, Jennifer Carrier, an aide to Sen. Tom Harkin, said the office has received and logged thousands of e-mails and letters, in addition to hundreds of phone calls, with an even split between abortion rights and anti-abortion activists.

Many of those messages came by way of form letter, Carrier said.

"Sometimes 20 people will call in an hour and read from the same script," said Carrier, who noted that only about 10 percent of the correspondence is individualized.

Several months ago, when there were rumors of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, 80, stepping down on account of his thyroid cancer, Grassley's office began receiving letters about prospective replacements and most of those, too, were standardized, according to spokesman Dustin Vande Hoef.

"It's almost all form letters or at least interest-groups driven," Vande Hoef said.

Grassley told reporters on Wednesday that scripted phone calls and form letters are less meaningful than "a handwritten note or a note from the heart, that's very personal."

One Democratic Senate aide pointed out the dramatic value of personal correspondence over form letters.

"It's not like a senator's going to read a computer-generated letter on the (Senate) floor, but he is more likely to read a handwritten one from an 83-year-old grandmother," he said.

Web sites for prominent abortion rights groups such as Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the National Abortion Rights Action League have form e-mails addressed to senators but no room to add personal comments. NARAL allows abortion rights proponents to add their thoughts but only when forwarding the action alert to friends.

The National Organization of Women differentiates itself from others in the abortion-rights movement, allowing activists to personalize correspondence by editing form e-mails sent to senators.

"All techniques are welcome," said Olga Vives, vice president for grassroots activity at NOW, who added that sit-ins are being organized for Grassley's district offices during August. "This is not just letters and postcards."

Kathi Di Nicola of Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa said how the message is transmitted should not matter.

"(Grassley) needs to listen to his constituents, whether by phone, letter, e-mail or telegram," she said.

PPGI allows state activists to add their own text when contacting Iowa's political delegation in Washington. But Di Nicola defended the click-and-send approach offered by the Internet, saying, "I think activists are eager to take action immediately."

In a newly published study of congressional correspondence, only 3 percent of Capitol Hill staff said form letters have "a lot" of influence on members of Congress while 44 percent report individualized postal letters carry more weight.

Regardless of how the messages are formatted, Grassley said none will matter much until President Bush chooses a nominee.

Once Bush announces his choice to fill the O'Connor vacancy, the Judiciary Committee must hold hearings and decide whether the nominee can face a confirmation vote by the full Senate.

The desire for activists to be vocal will likely increase exponentially once a nominee is named and people learn more about his or her past. The next Supreme Court session begins on Oct. 4.

Meanwhile, many conservative groups are showing restraint instead of inundating senators in two waves.

The Christian Coalition of America, founded by evangelist Pat Robertson, has spent the last two weeks mobilizing members for Bush's forthcoming announcement.

"It's like when you're going to war, you need to have a plan and a strategy," said Roberta Combs, the coalition's president, who added that her 2.5 million constituents are holding strong before contacting their senators.

CCA is employing a two-pronged strategy of making individualized phone calls and signing an online petition to submit to the Judiciary Committee.

"No matter what anyone says, numbers do have an impact," Combs said.

Even conservative organizers at the state and local levels remain poised to contact Washington and senators' district offices with correspondence of all kinds.

The Iowa Family Policy Center's 2,000 members will soon call and send individualized e-mails to Bush, asking him to stay firm in his campaign promise to nominate someone like Justice Clarence Thomas, according to spokeswoman Rachel Cunningham.

Another grassroots approach is to have "local people making local calls," said Gary Marx, executive director of the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, founded in January.

Once a nominee is named, Marx said JCN will instruct its 650,000 members in states like Iowa to call the district offices of their senators.

Contact Timothy Homan at t-homan@northwestern.edu.