WASHINGTONObama campaign manager David Plouffe is unrolling the general election campaign he has been shaping for months. For example, in May, the campaign unveiled a 50-state voter registration drive, the skeleton operation Plouffe is adding meat to now that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is officially the presumptive nominee. On Tuesday, Plouffeon the Democratic National Committee e-mailsent out a low-dollar appeal for money for Obamas 50 state campaign.
The letter demonstrates how strongly the Obama team is now running the DNCand how DNC chairman Howard Dean now answers to Obama. What is interesting in the letter: Dean caught plenty of flak in the 2006 campaign cycleespecially from Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) then the chairman of the House political operation for what Dean called his 50-state strategy. What did not work for Emanuelwho wanted Deans resources targeted to specific racesis looking interesting to Obama, who has built his own Obama Party during the long primary season where there were contests in all 50 states.
Said Plouffe in the appeal, I am proud to announce that our presidential campaign will be the first in a generation to deploy and maintain staff in every single state.”
From the DNCI have some news that I wanted you to hear.
People like you have been the heart of Chairman Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy to rebuild our party and empower Democrats to compete everywhere. We’ve all seen the energy and enthusiasm at the grassroots level impact races up and down the ballot over the last three years.
I am proud to announce that our presidential campaign will be the first in a generation to deploy and maintain staff in every single state.
The network of volunteers and the infrastructure built up during the historic primary season — on behalf of all the Democratic campaigns — have given us an enormous and unprecedented opportunity in the general election.
Now it’s time to expand our network and push our organizing resources even further. No matter where you live, our success this November will depend on your involvement. Sign up to join our campaign now, and we’ll make sure you’re aware of all the latest news and opportunities to make a difference:
http://my.barackobama.com/getinvolved
Of course, some states will be more competitive than others, and we will scale our resources accordingly.
But your work building our party means that the list of competitive states will be longer than ever before — and it will include states like Virginia and Montana where your work has helped a Democratic resurgence at the state level.
And in every single state, no matter what the likelihood that we carry it in the fall, our staff will build volunteer capacity that will provide help where we need it and impact races up and down the ballot this November.
Every day counts — voters head to the polls in less than five months. This is your opportunity to shape this election and our unprecedented 50-state campaign now:
http://my.barackobama.com/getinvolved
Thanks to your support, we are on our way to building an unprecedented organization for the November elections.
As the presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama will fight to unite our party and win contests up and down the ballot.
But he cannot determine the outcome of this election on his own.
It will all come down to what you are willing to do.
It’s time to answer the call.
Thank you,
David
David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
