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

[Nym90]

If Obama thinks he will capture states like Wyoming, Kansas, Montana etc., he is truly absurd.  If he had any brains at all, he would focus his money on the swing states.

Obviously he doesn't think he can or will win them, but considering the huge money advantage he has, it makes sense to spend money in them to try to steadily build Democratic support in them for future races, to help Democratic candidates downballot, and finally in the odd chance that he could flip them especially if a landslide starts materializing (not likely, but at least possible).

It's worth noting that most of these smaller states haven't been given any attention by any Presidential candidate in decades, so we really don't know what would happen if one of the candidates actually did spend some money in them. It hasn't been tested as a strategy because no one has ever had the resources, but it's worth trying as an experiment anyway.

[Nym90]

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.

Good points, all. Obama doesn't want to allow a negative image of him to thrive or go unchallenged anywhere. Even though the Electoral College attempts to treat it as such, the election is not just 50 separate state election totally autonomous of each other.