Story highlights Dean: Hillary Clinton's 50-state strategy reflects determination to reach out to all voters

Thinking across traditional geographical and partisan lines will define 2016 race, he says

Howard Dean is a former governor of Vermont and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He is supporting Hillary Clinton's campaign for president. The views expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) Most presidential campaigns follow the same playbook. Candidates parse the map into red states, blue states and so-called "swing states"—and they focus their time and resources exclusively on that third category.

Hillary Clinton's campaign is rejecting that strategy in favor of a much broader one. The plan that Clinton began to execute this week is a 20-year strategy to create a new vision for America. To fulfill it, she is dispatching staff to all 50 states and is working to identify and organize supporters in each one.

There are a lot of reasons why adopting a 50-state strategy is both the right thing and the smart thing for Clinton to do. For one, voters deserve it. When candidates write off entire states or regions for being too blue or too red, they also write off the people who call those places home.

Howard Dean

Instead of retreating behind battle lines drawn by pundits and pollsters, Clinton is aiming to rewrite the electoral map entirely. She recognizes that you can't win if you don't play -- and that, in a year when Donald Trump is on the ticket, anything is possible.

Clinton wants Democrats in Republican strongholds to know that she'll be their president too, and she wants Republicans across the country to know that staying home isn't their only alternative to voting for Trump.