“We're pretty much going to roll (our effort) right into the general election,” David Plouffe told Montana reporters in a conference call. “We believe Montana will be a competitive general-election state.”
Plouffe also said it's likely Obama will return to Montana to campaign before the June 3 primary election - his third visit to the state in the past two months.
He needs only 62 delegates to clinch the nomination, and 17 Montana delegates will be awarded based on the June 3 primary election results.
While a Democratic Party rules committee is set to consider contested Michigan and Florida votes on May 31, the outcome likely won't “affect the math of the nomination,” he said.
Another 69 pledged delegates are up for grabs in the two other final presidential primaries nationwide: Puerto Rico, on June 1, and South Dakota, on June 3.
While Obama appears to have the nomination all but locked up, Clinton's campaign spokeswoman in Montana said it's premature for Obama officials to be talking about the general election.
“Senator Clinton will continue to work hard, campaigning for every vote in the upcoming states and making the case that she will be the best nominee to take on John McCain and be our next president,” said Kate Downen. “Premature victory laps and false declarations of victory are unwarranted.”
Obama is favored to win the South Dakota primary, while Clinton is thought to have an edge in Puerto Rico, which will allot 55 delegates based on its primary election results. The Montana primary race between Obama and Clinton is expected to be close, although Obama has done well in other Mountain West states.
Plouffe said argued that Obama would be the strongest Democratic candidate in November because he puts many Western states in play for a victory, including Montana, North Dakota, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
“We put more states on the board, and expanding that playing field is going to be critical to success,” said Plouffe. “A lot of that stems from our strength in the Western part of the country.”
Plouffe also said the Obama campaign continues to talk to the remaining “superdelegates” from Montana and other states, trying to convince them to support Obama. Superdelegates are party officials and officeholders.
Three of Montana's eight superdelegates have committed for Obama, while some of the remaining superdelegates say they want to see the June 3 primary results before deciding.
As for the general-election matchup in Montana, a Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in early April showed McCain beating Obama by a 48 percent to 43 percent margin, with 9 percent undecided. McCain had an 18-point lead over Clinton.
Lee Newspapers has commissioned a poll this week and will report the results this Sunday on match ups between McCain and both Clinton and Obama.
Only two Democratic presidential candidates have carried Montana in the general election in the past half-century: Bill Clinton in 1992 and Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
The Obama campaign announced Wednesday that it's opening two new campaign offices in Montana, at Whitefish and Wolf Point, giving it 12 offices statewide.
Additional Obama campaign workers who had been in Oregon, which held its primary on Tuesday, are headed to Montana right now for the stretch run to the June 3 primary, Plouffe said.
Those workers are “pouring” in from Oregon to reach out to voters, particularly those in rural areas, he said, a population that tends to favor Clinton as seen in her Tuesday primary win in Kentucky.
Obama announced his South Dakota rural initiative on May 12.
The Montana rural initiative will be unveiled next week. “We are anxious to share that with everybody,” said Plouffe. “We are also encouraging people in Montana to go online and share their stories and their ideas and their priorities about what should be in that plan.”
Obama reached deep into the Montana rural vote on Monday when he rallied on the Crow Reservation, marking his first campaign visit to an Indian reservation, speaking to an estimated 4,000, mostly Native, voters.
“We have an active and effective Native Americans for Obama steering committee,” said Plouffe. “We had a terrific visit on Monday with the community and we want to keep building in that community. We're trying to talk to as many people as we can through every mechanism.”
He said with Montana's absentee voting and late voter-registration laws, people are voting right now.
“This isn't a case of 13 days from now,” he said. “We're very much focused on early voting. Election day is still important, but a lot of voters are making their decision right now.
“We're going to continue to try to talk to every conceivable voter in Montana who might vote for Senator Obama and make sure they actually get out and vote. He'll be the crystal-clear choice for voters who want fundamental change.”
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