One of the reasons that I love Howard Dean as chairman of the DNC is that he is not only advocating but also actively pushing for our party to be a national party, competing everywhere for the White House, for Congressional and Senate seats, for governorships, and for state legislative seats.  The 50-State Strategy, leaving behind the narrow and dismal, both electorally and in terms of movement-building, "battleground mentality" helped us re-take Congress this year and will help us build majorities both nationally and on state levels.  But unless we have a nominee that not only understand that in 2008 (and beyond), but also actively engages in that kind of strategy, the idea will not gain further mainstream Democratic acceptance.  And that is one thing we must demand of our nominee in 2008.

I believe, because of national and even some state-based political dynamics, that we can retain most, if not all of the 'blue' states from 2004.  But that still leaves us short electorally.  I worked in Ohio in 2004, and I believe we could have, if not actually did, won there.  That would have gotten us to the magic electoral college number for John Kerry to be entering a re-election campaign.  In many ways, the Bush presidency's second term has been one of the most disastrous in American history - outdone only by the first Bush term and the Reagan years.  In other ways, John Kerry was not a nominee that could build a sustainable majority or a movement, we would not have had the chance to draw lines between the failures of conservativism and the prospects of progressivism, and we would still be locked in a 1990s mentality of politics.  But as we look at 2008 (or 2012, 2016, and beyond), we must look for candidates that are going to look beyond just holding the 'blue' states and picking off either Florida or Ohio or some other combination of smaller states like Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico.

The candidate(s) that seek to win electoral votes in places like the two Carolinas, the aforementioned Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico, and other places like Tennessee, Arkansas, Montana, Oklahoma, and Indiana, are the people we should support as part of the progressive movement.  I don't need to tell you why we need to compete everywhere.  It is good for us electorally, and it is good for us to developing the party and for developing the progressive brand in places that have grown for want of some alternative to hard-righ conservativism.  

But there are two questions for us when looking at presidential candidates.  First, who will pay attention to the state that are within the realm of possibility to win and actually campaign there, eschewing Shrumism, Brazilleism, and Cahillism.  Clearly, John Edwards has thrown down the gauntlet to other candidates and declared that he will campaign for the hearts, minds, and votes of citizens in places outside the friendly confines of the 'blue' states and 'swing' states.

As a quick aside, it is a testament to a new brand of politics emerging within the Democratic Party and the progressive movement, and our legitimacy in mainstream progressive and Democratic politics, that a stump speech froma major candidate for the highest office in the land didn't just talk about problems, issues, solutions and values (well, in my opinion, there are only two candidates, maybe one, that actually talk about Democratic/liberal/progressive values) but also things like strategy.  That a candidate felt compelled to talk about engaging in a 50-State Strategy means that this is taking hold and becoming semi-conventional wisdom and that said candidate, John Edwards, is "one of us."  He gets it - and I'm glad he took a little bit of time to advance that cause with his bully pulpit.

But I'm more glad that he gets it for the sake that he gets it.  It means we have a better chance to win the White House.  It means we have a chance to elect more down-ballot Democrats.  It means we have a chance to build brand Demoract and the progressive movement.  

The second point I made is that we need to look for a nominee that not only gets that we need to compete everywhere - and that it's good for us and the health of democracy and Democratic politics in this country - but also one that can win in places where Democrats have not been strong in national politics in the past election cycles.  Because of things like actually having a plan for rural America (first I can remember from a presidential candidate), having a real plan for universal healthcare, talking about and having plans for economic justice and political populism, and being able to articulate a vision for this country firmly rooted in a set of core moral values that can resonate with a wide variety of people and voters, I believe John Edwards has the best chance to make competitive and win in places like those I mentioned above.

Take a look at John Edwards' website.  Ninety-nine county Democratic Party chairs just endorsed him.  In Oklahoma, an overwhelming majority of the state legislature's Democrats endorsed as well.  Georgia's last Democratic governor endorsed John Edwards.  In South Dakota, the at-large Congressional rep, Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin did too.  These are just some examples.  But what these folks know is that John will compete and can win there, but they also know that he is good for down-ballot Democrats there as well.  The next up-and-coming Democratic candidate for statehouse in one of those states I listed above, as well as the other states in America, are going to do a lot better with a John Edwards at the top of the ticket because he can bring a lot of people out to vote for Democrats, even where people aren't used to pulling the lever for the "D".  

He's got the plans, he's got the personality and character, and he's got the ability to connect with people and get them voting Democrat, in all kinds of places in all 50 states.  And just as importantly, he's got the mindset that we can and should get out to all 50 states to campaign to win.  It's politically smart for 2008, it's great for building a movement.  I'm proud every day to be out supporting and working hard for John Edwards, because he's one Democratic candidate that gets that this race is about something bigger than putting a given candidate in the White House on a number of levels.  He's shown leadership on this level and I hope that like on many other things from this campaign, the other candidates follow him as well.