Obama campaign targeting many GOP strongholds; McCain campaign focuses on typical battlegrounds

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Obama fans out, McCain stays put as strategists scour electoral map
The Democrat is targeting many GOP strongholds as the Republican focuses on typical battlegrounds.
By Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 9, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Entering the final stage of the race, the two presidential campaigns are plotting strategies that rely on vastly different readings of the electoral map, with Democrat Barack Obama competing hard in a large number of traditionally Republican states and John McCain, the GOP nominee, focusing on a small set of familiar battlegrounds.

A wild card in their calculations is McCain's surprise vice presidential choice, Sarah Palin....

National polls suggest the race is a tossup. In presidential contests, though, the trick is stringing together victories in enough states to clear a 270-vote majority in the electoral college.

With the election less than two months out, each campaign is reevaluating the map. Privately, McCain strategists acknowledge they are up against a mighty field operation assembled by the Obama campaign, which McCain's team has been hard-pressed to match. The Obama campaign's worries include carrying Wisconsin and New Hampshire, two states that voted Democratic four years ago but are no sure thing this time around. They are also keeping a wary eye on Michigan, another Democratic state in 2004. Obama made two stops there Monday, talking about the slumping economy....

Armed with the larger bank account, Obama's plan has been to maximize his chances by trying to win states that were out of reach to Democrats in recent elections. He is making serious investments of staff and advertising in 18 states, 14 of which voted to reelect President Bush in 2004. The idea is to hold on to all of the states that Democrat John F. Kerry won in 2004, then peel off enough traditionally Republican states to put Obama over the top. So, even at this late point in the contest, the Obama operation boasts dozens of paid staff and multiple offices in states such as Montana and North Dakota.

Other states that Republicans won in 2004, but which Obama is now targeting, include Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia. And the campaign says it is not abandoning its ambitions in Alaska, even after Palin's selection as McCain's running mate. "One of our strategic goals here is to wake up on the morning of Nov. 4 with as many pathways to 270 electoral votes as possible," David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, recently told reporters. Nov. 4 is election day.

McCain campaign officials see a more constricted field of play. "Eighteen states is 10 states too many," one McCain strategist said, dismissing the Obama campaign's assessment of how to win. In McCain's view, the election hinges on several Rust Belt and Upper Midwest states, particularly Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as well as the perennial battleground of Florida....

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Even some Democrats privately wonder about Obama's strategy, questioning whether resources might be better spent on states that look more winnable. One top Democratic strategist, after looking at voting patterns and demographic trends, said: "I don't think the Obama theory proves out when you do the math. When I ran the numbers on states like North Carolina, I didn't think that was possible."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-election9-2008sep09,0,823491,full.story