In February we launched our “swing state” strategy in which we strove to identify ways that we could leverage the the attention that the presidential campaign brings to key states that are served by NTCA members. A few weeks ago, President Obama was interviewed by a number of small market TV stations at the White House about his rural economic development agenda, and interestingly enough, a number of those markets were from state’s in our “swing state” strategy. Wisconsin, Virginia, Ohio, Iowa and some other key states have a large number of small telcos who are very concerned with the FCC’s USF and ICC order and the mplications the order will have on their broadband deployment, ability to repay loans, and ability to keep local jobs. Our telcos in these states are doing a good job in keeping their local communities, press and business leaders informed on the impact that FCC decisions will have on the economic future of their communities – like the effort I have included from Wisconsin. Also, as it is the time of year for telco annual meetings, I know that 
a great number of telco board Presidents and CEOs are also keeping their subscribers informed and engaged on the impact that regulatory decisions will have on their future rates and services. While Montana really doesn’t qualify as a swing state, Senator Tester is in a tight race for re-election and did send a terrific letter to President Obama sharing his concerns on the impact that he is already seeing in Montana on the regression analysis and the paralyzingly impacting this is having on investment in his state, at a time when “we need to support smart investment in rural America”. This education with local leaders in these swing states will continue to be important unless we can make some progress in removing the regulatory uncertainty that continues to hang over the heads of rural carriers.
