No two ways about it, the Obama campaign raising $51 million in the traditionally slow month of July is a major accomplishment.

Of course, they spent $56 million in the month. On July 1, Obama was ahead in the RCP average by 5.9 percent. On August 1, he was ahead… by 2.4 percent. (Today it’s 3.2 percent.)

Team Obama has put that money into a massive advantage in terms of numbers of field offices in key states. Maybe we’ll look back after Election Day and say, “boy, that really made a difference, what a sharp move by the Obama campaign.” Or maybe we’ll look back and say, “did they really need 29 field offices in Missouri in July?”