Prez Candidates to Focus on Independents, Hispanics, New Mexico

Must read: This article in today's New York Times lays out the strategies that will likely be employed by the McCain and Obama presidential campaigns in the general election. Get ready for a big onslaught by the prez campaigns in the Land of Enchantment. Both campaigns will be heavily targeting Western swing states, including New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada:

Both sides say the states clearly in play now include Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Post-primary action kicked off in New Mexico and across the nation this Saturday with the Obama campaign's Vote for Change effort to register and mobilize voters. In Albuquerque, more than 60 people showed up at the IBEW Hall to receive voter registrar training and hit the streets in the first phase of what will be a continuing effort until election day in November.

It looks like Gov. Richardson will be active in Obama's efforts:

Mr. Obama’s aides said the endorsement by Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, one of the nation’s most prominent Hispanic leaders, could prove more critical in the general election than in the primary.

Now this is exciting:

In a sign of what could be an extremely unusual fall campaign, the two sides said Saturday that they would be open to holding joint forums or unmoderated debates across the country in front of voters through the summer. Mr. Obama, campaigning in Oregon, said that the proposal, floated by Mr. McCain’s advisers, was “a great idea.”

On the money game:

Mr. Obama has a clear financial advantage. By March 31, Mr. McCain had raised about $80 million and reported about $11 million in cash on hand. Mr. Obama had raised three times as much — about $240 million — and had more than four times as much in the bank.

But the Republican National Committee, which is permitted to spend money on Mr. McCain’s behalf, has raised $31 million, compared with just $6 million by the Democratic National Committee. And Republican officials said they were not concerned about being outspent between now and the conventions.

Another very positive development is that the Obama campaign already has functional organizations in most states due to the campaign's efforts during the primary season:

Mr. Obama’s advisers said that as a result of the five-month series of primaries and caucuses, he had a nearly national campaign apparatus in place and had identified and registered thousands of new voters. That said, they acknowledged that they were at a disadvantage in two important states — Florida and Michigan — because those states had early primaries in defiance of the Democratic National Committee, and the candidates agreed not to campaign there.

“Organizationally, we have now built very powerful organizations in every state but Michigan and Florida,” Mr. Plouffe said. “That is one huge silver lining to how long this nomination fight has gone on.”

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