Obama's advantage in campaign resources will make it easier for him to maintain this expansive focus. After the 2004 election, GOP strategist Karl Rove often said that Bush won re-election mostly because his campaign had recruited 1.4 million volunteers. Steve Hildebrand, Obama's deputy campaign manager, says the Democratic team will dwarf that total. "If we do it right," he says, "it will be four times that number. And I think we will do it right." That volunteer "persuasion army" is the foundation of Obama's ambitious plan to build neighborhood-level organizations in all 50 states.
Obama, with his huge fundraising capacity, has also already started airing television ads in 14 states--from Alaska to Georgia--that backed Bush. The Obama campaign, Hilde-brand says, is committed to pursuing those states "with a full complement of staff, a full complement of media, and a large number of [candidate] trips." Obama's aides are also eyeing four other potential red targets--Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia. By contrast, McCain's advisers acknowledge that his financial limits--he's accepting public money for the general election--will compel him to focus his ad and organizing dollars more narrowly. |
