Obama's 50 state strategy (Well, really 37 or so.....)

Politico has an interesting piece on some of how Obama is looking to use resources in several "red states" he's not likely to win.

But separate from the specific states and presidential campaign strategy to press John McCain into spending time and money defending, I find the idea of coordinating and transferring Obama's enthusiasm and volunteers into local races quite intriguing. In Texas, I'm seeing huge Obama enthusiasm.

“If we can register more Democrats, if we can increase the Democratic performance and turnout, maybe we can pick up a congressional seat,” Hildebrand said.

Hildebrand’s plans underscore the unusual scope and ambition of Obama’s campaign, which can relatively cheaply extend its massive volunteer and technological resources into states which won’t necessarily produce electoral votes.

In Texas, for instance, Obama’s three dozen offices were overrun with volunteers during the primary; the campaign’s challenge is, in part, to find something useful to do with all that free labor......

(Also, I'm curious. Is this early 37 state exposure a "head fake" to lure John McCain, a testing of the waters to see where opportunities might be, or an expression of a campaign that already expects to win?

The reason I ask this is because the Obama campaign's math was unbelievably accurate in the primary. Is "50 state" a necessity or a luxury? What do they know sitting where they are? )