It’s been a while since anybody ran such a large ground-pounding type campaign in this area. But media in the ground between New York and Philadelphia is so expensive, an insurgent campaign has no alternative.
That is why we so rarely get change-over in New Jersey. Only incumbents on the take have enough money to run a media-intensive campaign.
Going back to basics, boots on the ground activism is what brought people out in November 2008 to vote for Obama (I am purposefully omitting ACORN because I am strictly addressing on ground activism). It is an old yet most effective way of winning elections, reaching out to people face to face. The internet and phone and mailings only go so far...