HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN CANDIDATE: We need a 50 state strategy in this country not an 18 state strategy. I run a little organization called Democracy for America. We had candidates in all kinds of states. We won in Alabama. We won in Georgia. We won in Idaho. We won in South Carolina. We won...
DEAN: We did. We won in a lot of states that are so-called red states. There is no such thing as a red state or a blue state. They're all purple states.
Howard Dean on CNN December 12, 2004
One of the Democracy for America candidates that Dean spoke of was Barack Obama. Of the original Dean dozen, Barack Obama campaigned in the reddest of precincts in his state and had support from 40% of Republicans and 75% of Independents in a state that had a long history of sending Republican to office (outside of Chicago). Below the fold we'll discuss the audacity of running in red states.
The pundits, the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue States: red states for Republicans, blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states.
We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states.
(APPLAUSE)
There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.
We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
Barack Obama at the Democratic Convention July 27, 2004
It sounds like Gov. Dean and Sen Obama are in agreement as to how the Democratic party needs to approach elections and approach the problems with this country. The only difference is that Gov. Dean speaks of process while Obama speaks of reaching out to those who are ignored. The actual face-to-face, all politics are local type of campaign.
It is telling that Obama spoke out on a 50 state strategy a good 5 months before Dean started running on it. The general election in 2004 showed us that the Republicans had a great ground game in every state and as usual, Obama had the judgement to foresee potential problems.
It is telling that Barack Obama was one of only a couple Democratic candidates to win the Senate in 2004. Democrats lost across the board but Obama was exception. He was a rockstar for a reason - he could do what no other Democrat could do in '04.
It is tellilng that Barack Obama was able to gain 40% of the Republican vote in Illinois when John Kerry was only able to pick up 11% of their vote. You can try to explain this fact away with the arguement that Obama was running against Keys but why didn't Republicans just leave that section of the ballot blank? It was because he listened to rural Republicans and they liked him.
As we found out in 2006, setting up Democratic organizations in the red states was a gold mine. But we also found out that the Democratic candidates in these red states aren't necessarily progressive. We must compete in these states but we must not give up our ideals!
Sen. Obama's approach is different than Deans because it speaks of accepting red state citizens as the neighbors down the street and not some stereotypical red neck racist. This allows Obama to hold to his convictions while asking "conservatives" to hear him out.
Senator Obama's Strategy seems to be a gold mine
Political organizing for Democrats in red states like Nebraska can often feel a bit like leading AA meetings. But that hasn't deterred more than 300 Nebraskans from forming a dozen groups for Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and they aren't the only ones. On Monday, the Obama campaign announced that over 300 Iowa and New Hampshire Republicans had decided to cross party lines to support Obama. At Obama events in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Virginia and Georgia, a good 20% of audiences routinely raise their hands when emcees ask for Republicans in the crowd. A "Republicans for Obama" website has 11 state chapters with 146 members. An August University of Iowa even found Obama running third in the state among Republican candidates, behind Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani but ahead of both Fred Thompson and John McCain. And a national Gallup poll this month also found that nearly as many Republicans like Obama - 39% - than the 43% that dislike him, compared with the 78% of Republicans who held an unfavorable opinion of Hillary Clinton.
Obama has embraced the legacy of the 50 State Strategy and this will help the Democratic party 10 fold. This makes him ELECTABLE and makes the Democratic party an agressive player in national politics.
A vote for Obama is a vote for the advancement of our party!