Heard something interesting on CNN radio yesterday

[Happyhippychick]

This is a bit of a spinoff on the "you can tell the way a person will govern by the way they run their campaign" idea.

The commentator said that Barack Obama has either set up or will set up offices in every single state. If he wins the nomination, he will have the ground crew in place to begin campaigning for the national election. Neither Clinton nor McCain have followed this strategy - Clinton in particular has skipped smaller states to campaign in larger ones. Neither of them will have the infrastructure in place. Setting it up was extremely expensive so it won't be an easy thing to do after the fact.

I think that all campaigns in the future would be smart to emulate this.

[jasmine621]

1. It's not a bad strategy but may be unnecessary. People who DON'T

vote in primaries are usually the ones whose minds are already made up and can't be changed.

[Happyhippychick]

2. I'm not understanding what you mean. Are you saying that

if somebody voted for Hillary in the primary and she doesn't get the nomination, they won't vote for Obama? (or vice versa, don't want to make any assumptions).

[Independent-Voter]

8. There are scads of independents that voted for Obama that would sit out a HRC election

[jasmine621]

10. Those "scads of Independents" are mostly IINOs....Rethugs newly

claiming I.

[blm]

17. Your claim is silly. Kerry carried Independents in 2004. And Indies voted big for Dems in 2006.

Now you want to smear their participation because they just don't like or trust Clintons?

[blm]

3. Lesson learned from 2000 and 2004 - DNC infrastructure was too weak to handle

any presidential campaign and the nominees were forced to tap into infrastructures in many states that had been collapsed for years.

Dean, though, has been rebuilding those long neglected infrastructures and that is one of the reasons 2006 was so difficult for RNC to pull off all their votestealing the way they did in 2000, 2002 and 2004.

McAuliffe's stewardship of the DNC was a lesson and an eyeopener. Thankfully Dean is acting in a trustworthy and responsible way towards ALL states.

[havocmom]

9. Dean's 50 State Strategy is SO much better than McAuliffe's ignoring of all but coasts

McAuliffe gave credibility to RW pundits who called DEMs elitists. He made the COUNTRY feel like the Democratic Party was not interested in them and could not be bothered with what they had to say. NOT a winning attitude!

Dean resonates with those who were the TRADITIONAL DEMOCRATIC BASE but had been too long neglected. His method of LISTENING to and communicating WITH people in all states goes a long way to lessen the divisive impact the GOP and DLC has had on We The People.

Let people know you are listening and you might just hear some folks with lots of good advice. To solve America's problems, the American PEOPLE have to be engaged and involved. It is heartening that the Obama organization seems to understand this important fact of life.

It's OUR country. We need leaders who understand that.

[jasmine621]

12. Guess where the Dems lost in 2004 and 2000? nt

[blm]

13. McAuliffe was disinterested in Dem party's success all over the country and it showed.

And who did that end up hurting? Only Democratic voters, Democratic candidates, this country and ultimately the world.

That's all.

[havocmom]

14. I will ALWAYS consider McAuliffe to be a GOP MVP

They couldn't have done it without him x(

[UALRBSofL]

4. That would be a great idea

But it takes a lot of money and to get that you need a lot of good endorsements, good MSM coverage, etc.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. horrible strategy!

after all, those little states, and all those caucuses are not significant, do not matter, so no need to even let them vote in the general.

[grantcart]

6. very few will have the money

[thevoiceofreason]

7. But she is sending Chelsea to Hawai'i

[Frances]

11. I think I have been a fairly objective person

regarding the contest between Obama and Hillary. I see both good and bad in each candidate.

I think Obama's main strength has been to energize so many people. I hope that Obama does succeed in revitalizing Dem party structure in every state. And, yes I know Dean was the one who first talked about this idea, but I think Obama has generated enough excitement to make that plan work.

[Avalux]

15. Obama's office opened here in San Antonio yesterday.

So many people showed up to volunteer they couldn't fit inside and spilled out onto the sidewalk - there were tons of people. I have never seen anything like it.

[JimGinPA]

16. Something We Should Have Been Doing For A While

You don't win people over by ignoring them.