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

[Lunar]

Well, this is why I'm not donating to Obama. I don't want him wasting my money on opening an office in Oklahoma.

To be fair, offices in Oklahoma are probably only going to be used to:
a) Get more donations for use in swing states
b) Be part of a positive-image that is the national 50-state campaign
c) Volunteer for phonebanks and whatnot in meaningful state
d) Influence national poll numbers to get more positive news coverage whenever they give a national poll.
e) There is a positive effect that I doubt few here acknowledge that goes like this.  The better that people in Texas think of Obama, the better they'll defend (or attack less agressively) him at the dinner table/whatever with their relatives in meaningful states.  This family contact probably should not be underestimated too much since these sorts of discussions are infinitely more persuasive and meaningful, especially when coming from a non-hackish family member, than a 30 second commercial during the news.  These are people who share a good part of spreading the 'Obama is a Manchurian candidate in the pay of Bin Laden' rumor.

[Lunar]

The opposite is equally important as well, especially in this race-challenged atmosphere.  If someone in the family mentions feeling uncomfortable with this inexperienced black man, Barack wants someone to say "but he's got all these great ideas" or "what about the Iraq war, can McCain be trusted?," especially influential among those who have a tradition of voting independent or Republican. 

I'm kind of uncertain how national poll numbers impact the race and am debating it within myself.  It's good to be seen as the frontrunner since many apolitical people vote for who they think is going to win (democracy has its flaws here).  But McCain probably thrives best when he's the underdog in public perception and is most likely to pull hail mary political strategies in this type of situation that makes him harder to beat than a conventional Republican. I think it's overall best to be up for Obama since it might be comforting to people anxious about this foreign man with a funny name, knowing that the majority of the country is ok with him (in addition to the whole positive-news-cycle thingy).

[Lunar]

With the kind of money he has, it's probably not the worst idea.

I forgot, it is a strategy that will most directly pay off in downballot races.  For Obama, this payout will affect him most clearly when he needs to get Congress to do stuff after he is elected.  Of course, he doesn't care about this any more than he cares about what John Edwards had for breakfast last Thursday at this moment.

This could have a positive effect towards 'unifying the party' if Hillary's backers find their GOTV efforts significantly boosted etc.  I'm not really sure the extent to this idea is tangible in terms of votes, but having congressional Hillary supporters (and others) being balls-to-the-Congressional-halls'-walls throwing their support behind Obama should do something somewhere.

[Lunar]

John McCain is happy man upon hearing this news.

Who cares if Obama out-fundraises him when half of that money goes to states like Utah or Massachusetts?

I doubt it.  First of all, only a fraction of a fraction of his money will go to such states.  The campaign only said that it would have staffers in all 50 states.  The vast majority of campaign spending is on ad buys is critical media markets and his campaign has given no indications that they will buy ads in 50 states.  In fact, in their recent inquiries of 25 states' media markets that include such far-reachers as Mississippi, they limit themselves to that 25 number.  They won't run ads in all 25 for sure, but the fact is that they weren't even looking into prices for ads in half of the United States.

Secondly, we have to assume that the Obama campaign, which is filled with very intelligent, politically savvy people (whatever faults they may have) would not decide just to blow their money away.

Third, everyone should be familiar with the idea of diminishing returns.  Spending the ten million and first dollar in Pennsylvania will yield far less of an impact than a single dollar in Alaska.  He's hunting for more than just converting his money directly into electoral votes here.

[Lunar]

Well, MSNBC just said Obama is on track to raise 100 million this month. Perhaps he could afford to spend a bit of coin in North Dakota.

Eeee gads! 100 Million? Are you sure you heard right? $100 million in one month?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/09/obama-could-raise-100-mil_n_106169.html