While it is tempting when you're playing a Republican to try and pick off the Eastern blue states like Rhode Island, Vermont etc... they are worth so few electoral college votes that it really isn't worth the time. You should ignore these smaller states and put resources into larger states like Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania! I've been playing Palin/Reagan on higher difficulties and I still manage to turn California and Florida solid Republican in the early game by building Level 1 bases and focusing on speeches and getting the right balance of operatives. If you forget about campaigning the smaller states and focus on the larger states with more electoral votes you will have a much easier victory with a higher electoral college count and popular vote!
