By Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger, Thursday, September 20, 3:56 PM

 President Obama’s reelection prospects look better in recent polls, but organizers from both parties report growing evidence that new voter-outreach programs funded by conservative groups could give Republican nominee Mitt Romney an edge if the race is close.

In the key battleground states, Obama’s celebrated network of organizing experts and neighborhood captains is being challenged by a conservative coalition that includes the National Rifle Association, billionaire-backed Americans for Prosperity and a newly muscular College Republicans organization with a $16 million budget