Emboldened Obama to push into firmly Republican states.

Having won the third and final debate with ease, Obama is now pushing into states which were once considered bedrock states for the Republicans in the election of George Bush.

Although he warned his supporters at a fundraising breakfast in New York against becoming too cocky, the Democratic candidate is pursuing a strategy that could see him take states that George Bush won with ease in 2000 and 2004.

Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, said after the debate in Hempstead that Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, were now considering visits to states such as Montana and North Dakota, once considered beyond reach. "I think it is fair to say that we are thinking of going into states we were not sure of at all earlier," said Axelrod. "Some things are opening up for us here that no one fully anticipated."

Other states coming into play include West Virginia, Kentucky and Georgia. Obama's campaign team said yesterday it would begin to broadcast new ads in these states. Even if they prove to be beyond Obama's reach, his campaigning will force the cash-strapped Republicans to spend money and effort defending states they once took for granted.

This was one of the strategies that Obama used against Hillary. Once a state comes into play, even if it is a state that he is unlikely to win, he starts to spend money in that state on advertising, forcing his opponent to respond.

In the battle for his party's nomination, this was most noticeable in Pennsylvania when Hillary boasted about winning the state by a nine point lead, despite Obama having outspent her by 3-1 in that state. Hillary originally led that state by a 25 point lead but Obama ploughed resources and money into Pennsylvania, forcing Hillary to spend to avoid a humiliating loss.

As I said at the time:

Obama knew that Hillary had to win here or it was all over. He also knew that every time he threw money at Pennsylvania that Hillary would have to respond. So he deliberately threw a lot of money at a state which he could not win in order to bankrupt her campaign. And he has done so.

When Pennsylvania went to the polls Hillary's camp had $9 million in the bank and a debt of $10 million. We are told that overnight she has raised a further $3 million. She still faces an Obama team which has $42 million in the bank. It is for this reason that the Hillary team constantly referred to Obama's spending as "obscene". They knew exactly what he was doing and they were powerless to stop him.

She has almost no money left now as she staggers into the last stage of this race. That was the real story of what happened in Pennsylvania.

Obama employed this tactic to bankrupt Hillary. And now he is doing the exact same thing to McCain. By forcing McCain to spend money in states like Montana and North Dakota, Obama is reducing the amount of money McCain has to spend attacking him in his strongholds. Obama now forces McCain to play defence, and reduces the chances of McCain making any ground in states in which Obama holds the lead.

The McCain campaign are boasting that they will respond:

But the push will not go unchallenged, said a McCain adviser, Charlie Black. He said McCain was expecting a new infusion of revenue to buy up ads in the remaining days. "I think maybe the advertising discrepancy will be getting a little better this week," he said.

Montana and North Dakota account for only six electoral college votes and yet the McCain team are now boasting that they intend to correct the advertising discrepancy there. This is exactly what Obama wants them to do. He wants to force them to spend their money holding on to what should be Republican strongholds, reducing the amount of money they have to attack him in the states that he needs to win this thing.

One thing is clear, McCain is not in charge here, he is being forced to respond to an agenda which is being set by Obama. That can't be good news for the McCain team.

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Tags: Obama, McCain, US election 2008, advertising, Montana, North Dakota