In a detailed article in the Boston Globe written by Brian Mooney, a plan was unfolded that in its scale is historic - if not shocking - in American politics. Leaving "no state behind', Obama is training a huge army of organizers to go into every one of the fifty states. Taking a page from DNC chairman Howard Dean's initially controversial re-organizational philosophy, there will be levels of participation depending on the strategic importance of the states, but every citizen will find a place to contribute his or her talents, skills and passion no matter where they live.

The scope of the plan and its implementation, if successful, could change the way we look at grassroots politics for decades. For years, the grassroots has taken a second place to crucial media buys. But with Obama perfecting Internet fundraising and creating large groups of small contributors, he actually might be able to have both media and the amazing grassroots network. Mooney writes in the Boston Globe:

Behind the headlines about the unprecedented success of Democrat Barack Obama's fund-raising machine lies a more prosaic truth - his campaign will need every penny of its $300 million goal to bankroll an unprecedented 50-state general election campaign with a massive army on the ground.

His campaign already has by far the largest full-time paid staff in presidential campaign history, and unlike Republican rival John McCain's, continues to grow by the day.

In fact, it could be the difference between victory and defeat. One of the advantages of such a strategy is that will force Republicans to spend morning in such states as North Dakota, Kansas and Indiana where they have always had a free ride. Mooney continues:

"Between the Obama staff and the Democratic Party staff there will be several thousand" paid operatives on the ground deployed across the country, deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand said in an interview. "I don't want to get too specific; it gives away strategy."

Large staffs are working in traditional battleground states and every state will have at least some paid staff, with "large-scale operations in 22 states, medium operations in many others, and small staffs in only a handful of states," Hildebrand said.

Obama and the Democratic Party have about 200 paid staffers working in Florida and more on the way, 90 in Michigan with plans to expand to 200 by August, at least 200 each eventually in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and 50 in Missouri with plans to expand to 150, according to published reports and interviews with Obama campaign officials. Hildebrand said state organizations should be at full strength by the end of August.

The Boston Globe captures the scope of this operation:

Obama's campaign is optimistic it can reach its lofty targets because it achieved ambitious goals in its long, brutal fight to upset Hillary Clinton and win the Democratic nomination. Underlying the optimism is an unerring faith in the premise of the Obama candidacy that many Americans are angry, anxious, and engaged as never before in the political process because they want change.

Under Obama, the state party operations, which traditionally have been called victory committees or coordinated campaigns, have been renamed in each state as the "Campaign for Change."

"The climate has made millions of Americans who haven't been involved in a political campaign ever in their lifetimes very active," Hildebrand said. "We estimate that 70 percent of our grass-roots volunteers haven't worked in a campaign before. . . . We're somewhere just shy of 2 million volunteers, and we think we can potentially triple that on Election Day."

That would mean 6 million volunteers. For comparison, about 116 million people voted in the 2004 presidential election.

This entire process continues the Obama campaign's pioneering spirit. As with any innovation, there are risks involved and a key part of the strategy is believing that once again the grassroots fundraising will set records as we get closer to the election. If they do, with the funds, with the foundational activists and with the message, Obama could well be on his way to being President.