The Scope of a Mega People-Powered Campaign

Here's what a Presidential candidate can do when he/she harnesses the power of the internet and amasses 1.5 million individual donors:

1. Put paid staff in all 50 states. By the end of the month, the Obama campaign will have a director and staff members in each state, reported the New York Times today. "While some states will have only a few workers assigned to them, the biggest battlegrounds will have scores, many of whom will arrive by the Fourth of July." 
2. Compete in all states. The Obama campaign doesn't expect to win every state they compete in -- but they do expect to compell the McCain campaign to have to stretch its resources to defend some states' red complexions.
3. Train a cadre of 3600 young people in campaign organizing, dub them the “Obama Organizing Fellows,” and send them out across the country to oversee local voter registration efforts.  Battleground states are likely to receive more than 100 fellows eager and enthusiastic for their candidate and specifically trained for their tasks.
4. Splatter the country with TV ads starting yesterday -- a full 4 months before the election. The campaign chose to run its "The Country I Love" spot in 18 states, six more than the dozen battleground states four years ago. The 18 are Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia.
5. Ask NBC to provide you with ad packages for the Olympics this August.  That's a little early for all-out TV buys, some at Advertising Age have speculated, but the Obama campaign may be figuring that their candidate needs more repeated introduction to the nation.  An additional plus to advertising Obama at the games is that women viewers of the Olympics far outnumber male viewers.