OK, so I’m reading this article and I was stunned to learn that Obama had 11 campaign offices in North Dakota! North Dakota which only has 3 electoral votes. He had 50 staffers in North Dakota!! What the heck was he thinking? What did he get for his 50 staffers and 11 campaign offices? McCain is up by the 13 points. As of July 30 he has spent $160,000 for ads in a state that Bush won by 27 points.
No wonder Obama doesn’t have any money for Reid or for black voter turnout, he’s using it pursuing states he doesn’t have a shot at winning (even Dole won ND in 1996).
Obama is moving the 50 campaign staffers from ND to Wisconsin and Minnesota because they’ve become battleground states. The last time both those states went for a Republican wasn’t Reagan because Mondale won his home state (unlike Gore), the last time was in 1972 when Nixon defeated McGovern by a landslide. Seems appropriate that they are up for grabs this year, doesn’t it? 🙂
BTW, the point of the article was that McCain-Palin outdrew Obama in Green Bay and of course the reporter had to note there was a good reason for that:

In their defense, Obama’s backers note their rally was held on Monday at noon, compared to a Thursday night rally for McCain and Palin.

But Obama’s rally was open to the public and it was at lunchtime. You had to get tickets to the McCain-Palin rally in advance.