Is the Fifty-State Strategy Dead?

Chris Bowers says pobably yes, with a follow up.

Pertinent quotes:

....

And, confirming earlier reports, the nearly 200 locally based organizers who form the core of the fifty-state strategy have all been fired....

....Further, Rahm Emanuel has long been the most outspoken opponent of the fifty-state strategy, and now he is Obama's Chief of Staff. So really, given the amount of say Emanuel will have over this, kiss the fifty-state strategy goodbye.

...

People inside the DNC are telling me that the program is not dead. This doesn't surprise me, because it is a popular program and I imagine that many of the remaining staffers at the DNC are committed to the program. At the same time, all of the organizers--who were chosen by local state parties--have been fired. That effectively kills the program, no matter the messaging and commitment of the remaining staffers. (emphasis mine)

...

Update: I've seen in the comments that many people think Obama is replacing "Deaniacs" with his own people. That is a failure to understand how the fifty-state strategy works. The DNC organizers were all chosen by the local state parties, not by Dean. Now, the idea that you fire a bunch of locally chosen people, and then send "your own" people back to those local areas, is absurd. The new people will be reviled, and unable to function with the local parties. No one is being replaced. The program is being terminated. 200 community organizers just got fired by Obama's campaign. How ironic. (emphasis original)

I actually disagree with some of the analysis.

I don't think that the "Rahm Emanuel and His Evil Minions^™" are behind this. I think that this is really a part of the character of Barack Obama and his campaign.

I have never seen a more highly disciplined campaign at a national level, and they are, and I mean this is a good way, serious control freaks.

The 50 state strategy was a policy of sending money to the local state parties, and allowing them to choose their people as local organizers. It was the "them" and the "their" which made the program work, I hope that the Obama administration is not moving away from that.