W. James Antle III, for your information, your high regard for state by state organizations in presidential campaigns wasn't shared in 2012 by 'Establishment heavyweight' (your description) Romney

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1/29/15, "The big question for Cruz is whether he has the state-by-state organization to go the distance....To win the nomination, Cruz will not only have to battle establishment heavyweights like Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Mitt Romney (should they all run)."..."Ted Cruz 2016: Time to Channel Ronald Reagan?" National Interest, W. James Antle III.

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12/22/2012, “The story behind Mitt Romney’s loss in the presidential campaign to President Obama," Boston Globe, Michael Kranish

 

Total Romney staff in all states: 500

Total Obama staff in all states: 3000

Florida Romney staff: 200 (almost half his total US staff)

Florida Obama staff: 770 

Ohio Romney offices: 40

Ohio Obama offices: 123

Colorado Romney offices: 15

Colorado Obama offices: 59

 

"Building on its 2008 field organ­ization, Obama’s campaign had far more people on the ground, for longer periods, and backed by better data. In Florida, for example, the Romney campaign said it had fewer than 200 staff members on the ground, a huge commitment of its total of 500 nationwide. But the Obama campaign had 770 staff in Florida out of 3,000 or so nationwide.

“They had more staff in Florida than we had in the country, and for longer,” said Romney adviser Ron Kaufman. 

In swing state after swing state, the Obama field team was much bigger than the Romney troops. Obama had 123 offices in Ohio, compared with Romney’s 40. Obama had 59 offices in Colorado, compared with Romney’s 15, according to statistics compiled by the Obama campaign."...

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