Obama Campaign: We'll have Staff in all 50 States

[Eleanor Martins]

People forget that having a presence even in a state that's deep red has a regenerative effect, I assure you that Joe Sixpack seeing Obama volunteers on the streets of say, Salt Lake City, increases his propensity to donate to the campaign, as compared to if he got the impression that Obama was going to pretend that Utah doesn't exist.

In addition, especially in this day and age, states aren't self-contained environs - if Utahn Joe gets enthusiastic about the Democratic campaign, that enthusiasm has the ability to transcend barriers and reach a much larger audience. You don't put money in Utah and see the effects of that investment limited to Utah and Utah only.

I'm also surprised that people still hold the impression of the Obama effort as inorganic, we've seen time and again that his centrally directed energies are a lot lower than other campaigns. One need only look at his fellowship program, if he gets a posse of volunteers (i.e. are not paid) in Oklahoma who basically create something from scratch in the state, I fail to see how this will minimize his expenditures in any meaningful way in Ohio. I'm not arguing that there still exist marginal constraints, but if McCain has to keep pace in terms of boots on the ground in a place like Georgia, I don't see where he has wide enough a volunteer base to power his efforts there, being forced instead to employ paid workers.