Forget the debate post-mortem. It's over, Obama won.
The real story today is that the Obama camp is looking at moving back into North Dakota, and into states it has never been: West Virginia and Kentucky.
And Obama is weighing broadening a map that already appears big and red into four more states. A top adviser, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, said Obama is considering expanding his active campaign back into North Dakota and Georgia, from which he’d shifted resources, and into the Appalachian heartland of West Virginia and Kentucky.
"Those states are much more in play than they were a week ago," Daschle said.
This would follow up with Jay Rockefeller's powerful interviewwith the Charleston Daily Mail:
Rockefeller's endorsement of Obama earlier this year came as a surprise to some, considering his close ties to the Clintons over the years. He was also the first West Virginia superdelegate to come out in support of Obama.
"Lawrence Tribe, one of the most brilliant lawyers in America, has said that Barack is the most incandescently brilliant student he ever taught," Rockefeller said. "I think brains counts. When you combine it with the kind of international background that he's had, what's he's been through as a black person. It has not made him angry, but he's rather hopeful by it. He's an extremely positive person about the future of America. He's the president I've been waiting for all my life."
That interview was given in response to a poll that showed Obama with the LEAD in West Virginia. For more on WV, see the inimitable Carnacki.
Yesterday, the AJC reported that the race had been tightening again in Georgia.
John McCain leads Barack Obama in Georgia by 6 percentage points among voters likely to participate in the Nov. 4 general election, according to a CNN poll released Wednesday...
The race is even tighter when the poll is expanded to all registered voters. In that case, McCain’s lead falls to 3 percentage points, meaning the race would essentially be tied given the margin of 3 percentage points for registered voters.
Considering that no one has an effective "likely voter" model for this year, these numbers may reflect a real chance at victory.
In North Dakota, approval ratings of Bush are at 20% according to a recent poll, and Obama has been measured in the lead, 45-43, in a poll done earlier this month.
I'll keep updating with more relevant info as I dig it up.
Update I can't find much polling data that merits the move into Kentucky, but, as I said below, investing in Kentucky media markets will bleed into Ohio, Indiana, and, to a lesser extent, West Virginia. And Kentucky does have a Senate race in play as well, so it could be a strategic move. But, who am I to say that Obama won't win in Kentucky?
One thing for certain, Obama has a strategy. McCain has only thought about fighting the next battle. Obama is thinking about winning the war.
I'll also add that, I considered changing the title of the diary from "back in play" to just "in play", but I think a lot of people had written those states off, even if Obama and folks in those states didn't, so it's best left as is. Plus, it reinforces the "O"mentum.
Update II It's important to add that, per the original article, Obama is going to be campaigning hard in the more "traditional" battleground states of Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, and Florida, and also that he just spent a few solid days in Ohio. This isn't giving up the bird in the hand for the two in the bush. Obama and his team are fighting McCain hard on all fronts.
Update III per SneakySnu, early voting starts today in NC:
More than 50 people were waiting in line this morning at the Wake Board of Elections office in downtown Raleigh for the start of early, one-stop voting.
Every county has at least one site where voters can cast ballots through Nov. 1. Many counties, including those in the Triangle, have multiple sites.
When the polls opened at 8 a.m., about 200 people waited to vote in a line that doubled back on itself inside a first-floor hallway and stretched out a side door...There was no evidence of any organized presence from John McCain's campaign either inside or outside the courthouse.
And thanks to icebergslim for a list of the early voting locations in NC.