Obama to Reshape Electorate in Ohio?

That’s the plan:

Bringing new voters to the polls “is going to be a very big part of how we win,” said Obama’s deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, in an interview. “Barack’s appeal to independent voters is also going to be key.”

Hildebrand said the campaign is likely to turn its attention and the energy of its massive volunteer army this fall on registering African-American voters, and voters under 35 years old, in key states.

“Can it change the math in Ohio? Very much so,” he said. “If you look at the vote spread between Bush and Kerry in 2004 – we could potentially erase that.”

The only question is will he get the strong institutional support despite the bitter fight to make Hillary win in Ohio behind the strength of Ted Strickland and his machine? I just know that Chris Redfern is going to be the biggest Obama fan in the state here in a few months! I just KNOW it! Tubbs-Jones will also be key in these efforts as well and her constituents appear willing and able to help. Go Chris! Go Stephanie!

I’m really encourage to hear this type of talk:

“We are pretty convinced that Barack is going to be the nominee, and so we’re going to prepare for a general election no matter how long this two-person race goes,” he said. “What we did with those two demographic groups [in South Carolina and elsewhere] is what we will have the capacity to do in the general election in every state where there’s large pockets of under-35s and African-Americans” – states that include Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and other battlegrounds.