Obama to waste money in Texas

Houston Chronicle:

Barack Obama's campaign will send money and staffers to Texas and other heavily Republican states to help elect Democrats in congressional and local races, officials said Wednesday.

"Our strategy orientation is to play offense," said David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, who announced the strategy at a news conference.

While Plouffe conceded that the Illinois Democrat was unlikely to defeat Republican John McCain in Texas, he said the move into the state is part of a strategy to boost other Democrats and train Texas volunteers who would later be sent to battleground states.

Obama's 50-state strategy, he said, is designed to help the party increase its majority on Capitol Hill and to try to regain control of state legislatures, including Texas, where the Democrats need to pick up just five House seats to control the chamber.

Another goal is to force the Republicans to spend money in "red" states so they have less available for swing states.

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Texas Republicans can fund their own campaign. The only way a Democrat can win here is to be in a minority district or fool people into thinking they are conservatives despite their votes for Pelosi. Chet Edwards is an example of the latter. Nick Lampson is trying to emulate him, but I don't think he will have much success with an actual opponent on the ballot this time.

Obama is not a person who can attract Texas Republican voters. He didn't attract enough Democrat voters to win the primary and that was before the Rev. Wright revelations and other gaffes. He is actually doing Republicans a favor by wasting his money here rather than someplace where it might be more effective.