50-State Strategy Revised

Not too long ago, an American politician had this interesting, but costly idea: that a political party should be competitive in every state, not just "battleground" ones.

The idea meant that a party shouldn't ignore a state because "it's a guarantee;" or neglect a state because "it's unwinnable." Every state received (if not equal) some attention.

Well, that idea seems to undergone a revision:

But now, as voter registration winds down in the next two weeks and the impact of John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin becomes clearer, the Obama campaign has apparently scaled back its outsized electoral ambitions. It is already shifting staff abandoning some states, and putting others on notice. If they once technically played in all 50, they're now down to 48 — you can cross Alaska and North Dakota off the list and two other states, Montana and Georgia, are on life support. The choice of Palin not only crushed Obama's hope of winning the Frontier State — the campaign has withdrawn most of its staff and ceased advertising there — it also had repercussions in North Dakota, another hockey-crazed northern state where snow mobile racing and moose burgers apparently resonate. The Obama campaign announced this week that they are redeploying their staff — estimated in some press reports to be more than 50 people.

"We always knew it would be an uphill battle, but because people across the country in Red States and Blue States are hungry for change, we built a grassroots movement we are proud of and an infrastructure that will help candidates up and down the ballot," says Amy Brundage, an Obama spokeswoman, of the decision to pull out. The news isn't entirely a surprise, as Obama cut advertising in North Dakota by 50% in recent weeks. And the moves come as Obama has been forced to mount more serious defenses of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin — states where it spent nearly $1.5 million in television advertisements last week.

Now just to make things clear, the Democrats have made strides over the years. And going by the Godfather of the 50-State Strategy, something like this was inevitable in what's become a year-long campaign:

"At the end of the day some states are going to matter more than others," says Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. "If our registration efforts go very well in Georgia, Georgia will be in play. If they don't go well, they won't be in play. The map is getting bigger for us, not smaller."