Expanding Our Base of Blue States

Cross-posted at MyDD

The map of red and blue states has proven to be fairly static over several election cycles. But now comes word that Barack Obama wants to create some new blue spaces on the map of the 50 states. An Associated Press wire story explains why Obama is targeting each of the following seven states. I have embellished their report with some other local reports:

Alaska: Alaska has a young populace; in fact, it has the third youngest population in the nation. Obama opened in July the first presidential campaign headquarters in Alaska in its 50-year history as a state.

Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia: Each of these three southern states has growing populations, particularly of young and left-leaning voters, and each of them has many black voters. Northern retirees also have been moving into North Carolina, and Georgia has a 30 percent African American population. The article observes, "Of the cluster (of seven states), Virginia is most likely to go Democratic, so it's the one where McCain is competing in earnest."

Montana: Montana has seen Democratic inroads in recent years. For instance, both of its senators are Democrats. So too is its governor. The Great Falls Tribune reports, "(Obama's) campaign boasts six offices, more than 20 full-time staffers and 10,000 volunteers in Montana — a stark contrast to Republican rival Sen. John McCain, who has yet to visit or open an office in the state."

North Dakota: North Dakota has sent only Democrats to Congress since 1986. Obama has opened four offices in the state, in Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot and Bismarck; he also is deploying organizers in North Dakota and has campaigned in the state several times since April.

Indiana: Indiana, the article observes, has voted for a Democrat only once since 1936; that was in 1964 when Lyndon Johnson had his landslide. Obama's campaign is optimistic about the Hoosier state because Indiana shares borders with Barack Obama's home state of Illinois and is home to large college population in places like South Bend and Bloomington. Obama currently has 14 offices in the state and intends to open about a dozen more. McCain has no offices in Indiana, and he apparently does not plan to open any.