The pundits, as well as many activists, have been busy this week trying to convince us that Hillary Clinton has the Democratic nomination sewn up; nothing to see here, folks. But outside of the pre-debate spin on Wednesday, in which Very Important People informed us that unless Obama came out swinging against Clinton, his campaign would fail; and yesterday's announcement that Edwards would opt in to public financing in the primaries, something else is happening.
While we won't have hard Q3 fundraising numbers for a couple of weeks, it is probably safe to presume that Obama will remain competitive with Clinton. Many here assume that his campaign's financial strength will mean that he will be competitive based on huge media buys.
But I have seen little written about what else campaign contributions can buy: Staff and the resources to train thousands of organizers at the precinct level across the country, over a sustained period of time.