Barrel Strength

The socialist economist John Galbraith, in his 1967 book “The New Industrial State“, argued that large American corporation, such as General Motors, are essentially immune from market forces because they can use advertising to create additional demand. Nobody should ever confuse leftist economics with reality, as we have seen GM’s market share drop precipitiously, but that hasn’t stopped platitudes raining down on him.

Similar events could be unfolding in the political arena, where Obama is poised to raise $500 million. Since this fund raising projection was published on June 19, 2008, the events have unfolded which seem to indicated that Democrats are playing with Galbraith’s playbook. Eleanour Clift describes this 50-state strategy as follows:

Let’s do the math. If Obama holds all the Kerry states, he’s at 252. Add Iowa for 259. Add a win in Virginia or North Carolina, “and it’s game, set, match,” says Plouffe. Or add Colorado and New Mexico, Republican states where Obama now leads, to reach 270. The campaign last week put up a biographical ad in 18 states, including Alaska and Montana, historically Republican states. It looked like Obama was just trying to taunt McCain, lure him into spending money in states where he shouldn’t. But Plouffe insists “there’s not a head fake in the bunch.” Alaska’s octogenarian Sen. Ted Stephens, under investigation for corruption and the sponsor of the infamous “bridge to nowhere,” is in a tight race for reelection. Montana, which Bill Clinton won in ‘92, has a Democratic governor and senator.

And Plouffe is just getting started. There’s Georgia, a state that hasn’t gone Democratic since 1976, but the presence of former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, who’s running for a third party—Libertarian—could drain 2 to 4 percent from McCain and put the state within reach for Obama. “Indiana is another place where I would ask you to reorder your thinking,” Plouffe said with clinical certainty, adding it to his list of states “behaving” more Democratic. “Our goal is to adjust the electorate more to our liking,” he said, explaining how registering a record number of African-Americans and young people under 40 could swell Democratic turnout and swing Republican-leaning states to Obama.

It looks as if Clift is expecting Obama to win 50 states in the upcoming Presidential election with the help of advertising strategy as described by Galbraith. Your correspondent is certainly glad that this will leave 7 states for McCain and the election won’t be a disaster for him, like 1984 was for Mondale, who only carried one state and the District of Columbia.