The need for Barack Obama to run a national campaign and compete outside of traditional "swing states" was adeptly outlined in a post made by kos earlier this week.

Hillary Clinton's campaign was always a swing-state 50+1 percent affair. She'd win in November, but by once again ignoring most of the country in favor of an elite few "purple" states.

Watching Obama build his incredible ground operation across the country, I can't help but hope that this newly built infrastructure stays in place through November.

We must build long term, in every state, toward a solid future progressive majority.

....

I want a presidential candidate who will eat into GOP popular vote advantages everywhere, even in states like Idaho and Alabama, helping cut into the GOP's vote tally. We must mobilize Democrats everywhere, in every state in our nation, to deliver the most dominant Democratic margin of victory in half a century.

The media thought Bush's 3 percent victory in 2004 was a "mandate". Let's mobilize Democrats from show them what a real mandate looks like.

Ever since Howard Dean was elected as chair of the Democratic National Committee, there has been a general consensus within the progressive movement that Democrats need to compete in red states if we want to build a strong and sustainable majority in American politics. Dean has made considerable progress by investing in state party infrastructure, but generally expansion into red states is off limits for presidential campaigns. In recent years, presidential campaigns have been so hotly contested that it would be unimaginable for a candidate to spend any effort competing in states outside of a few key "swing states." But 2008 could be different.

There has been a lot of talk about which states may become competitive during the general election because of Barack Obama's unique ability to expand the core constituencies that have previously defined the Democratic base. After reviewing the areas in which Obama has done particularly well in primaries so far I've come to the conclusion that two regions will hold significant potential when Obama is nominated: the West and the South. Obama has won in the Western states: Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and soon Montana. He has also won in the deep south, where high black turnout swept him to crushing victories: South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and soon Mississippi.