Obama's Campaigning Like He Means It

Obama doesn't need Florida but the more states Obama wins, the more support he'll get if he's elected.

It's been really fun watching Obama over the last several days. I can't keep up. He's everywhere. He seems to be giving every ounce he has, a competitor, for sure. He'll make a great Commander in Chief.

WaPo: Barack Obama can win the White House next Tuesday over John McCain without carrying Florida and its 27 votes but it has become increasingly clear that the Democratic nominee and his campaign see the Sunshine State as a critical symbolic victory given the state's history in presidential politics over the last eight years.
For months, Obama has been flooding the state with resources -- primarily on a massive television campaign that is costing the campaign more than $5 million a week. (Worth noting: Obama kept the ad spending up even when polling in September suggested it was having almost no impact. Perseverance sometimes pays off in politics.)
In the last few weeks, Obama has sent his top two field generals -- "Sunny" Steve Hildebrand and Paul Tewes -- to direct ground operations in the state.
Surrogates for Obama are also flooding the state. Last night, following his 30-minute national informercial, the Illinois senator appeared alongside former President Bill Clinton at a midnight rally in Kissimmee. Then today came the news that former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, will make stops in West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow to lead early vote rallies.

Obama Keeps Dean Appoints Tewes

he also announces the dnc will not accept pac money.

cnn: The campaign announced that Howard Dean would remain head of the DNC, addressing speculation that he might be replaced with a candidate chosen by Obama himself.

Dean’s ambitious effort to build party infrastructure in all 50 states had been met with mixed reviews – criticized by Democrats nervous over the DNC’s dire financial straits, praised by activists determined to compete with Republicans in every area of the country.

"Sen. Obama appreciates the hard work that Chairman Dean has done to grow our party at the grass-roots level and looks forward to working with him as the chairman of the Democratic Party as we go forward," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
...
In a new appointment, Obama senior adviser Paul Tewes will immediately begin to coordinate the campaign’s activities at party headquarters. Tewes led the Obama campaign to victory in Iowa before being dispatched to other primary season battlefields like Ohio.

The campaign also said Thursday that the DNC, following Obama’s own policy, will no longer accept donations from political action committees or their members, or federal lobbyists, although donations that have already been accepted will not be returned.

Obama's Campaign Manager in Pennsylvania

obama and some of the pittsburgh steelers

paul tewes, who led iowa, is taking over in pennsylvania.
Paul Tewes, who directed Obama's impressive win in the Iowa caucuses, will take over the Pennsylvania campaign from Jim DeMay, according to campaign sources. Tewes could not be immediately reached for comment.

Obama's national campaign has come under criticism from supporters that his defensive strategy in Pennsylvania -- designed largely to limit Hillary Clinton's ability to run up her popular-vote total -- was tantamount to conceding the state.

Who Can Beat McCain?