The Future of the 50-State Strategy

by: David Mauro

Mon Nov 10, 2008 at 08:10 PM CST

With Howard Dean set the leave the DNC after a successful four-year term in January, the next Chair will have an important decision to make: whether to continue the "Fifty State Strategy" that Dean put in place beginning in 2005.

Firedoglake is reporting that many of the DNC state organizers -- of which Texas has three, according to the TDP website -- will be let go at the end of the month.

For those of us who have advocated for the 50-state strategy, this is not good news.

My hope is that the next DNC Chair believes that Democrats should compete in every community in America. The next chair will presumably be hand-picked by Obama and, while I haven't heard many names thrown around yet, I think Obama would be wise to consider David Plouffe, his campaign manager.

Plouffe seems to understand the importance of expanding the map for Democrats. He would make a great chairman.

Of course, as Firedoglake points out, the new Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is a long time opponent of the Fifty State Strategy. What effect, if any, he will have on the DNC remains to be seen.

Who do you want to be the next DNC Chair?

Update: According to Marc Ambinder, David Plouffe has said he is not under consideration for DNC Chair.

Plouffe: Obama Will Have Staff in Every State

by: David Mauro

Wed Jun 11, 2008 at 11:56 AM CDT

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe has announced in an e-mail to supporters that they plan to have staff members in every state this fall.

This is a big win for those (including myself) who advocate for Howard Dean's 50 state strategy. An Obama (and, by extension, a Democratic) presence in every single state this year will go a long way to strengthening our party's brand across the nation.

From the e-mail:

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 ...

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.

I really agree with the last paragraph. It is great to see our nominee acknowledge the importance of building a strong grassroots organization in every state not just for this election but for many, many elections to come. 

(from Ben Smith)