In the Democratic primary… maybe. Regardless of your political inclinations, there’s a rather fascinating article in today’s Washington Post on how the Obama campaign sewed up the nomination, without big momentum wins (outside of the Iowa caucus) and without contesting traditional “battleground” states.
I know a lot of Obama supporters are excited about “a new direction in politics” and we may have just witnessed that in the strictest definition of the phrase: a new way of contesting the Democratic primary in terms of strategy, not just rhetoric.
Strategy Was Based On Winning Delegates, Not Battlegrounds
The insurgent strategy the group devised instead was to virtually cede the most important battlegrounds of the Democratic nomination fight to Clinton, using precision targeting to minimize her delegate hauls, while going all out to crush her in states where Democratic candidates rarely ventured.
“We kept waiting for the Clinton people to send people into the caucus states,” marveled Jon Carson, one of Obama’s top ground-game strategists.
“It’s the big mystery of the campaign,” said campaign manager David Plouffe, “because every delegate counts.”
