“We’re going to play for the big win,” Kaine told DNC members, to cheers. “We’re going to play in every corner of this country.”

Kaine explained that locating the party’s 2012 convention in Charlotte, N.C. was part of that strategy. Obama won the state in 2008 despite its having voted mostly for Republicans in previous presidential elections. It may be tough to win again in 2012, but the DNC’s decision to locate its convention there signals that Obama plans to play with an expanded map.

“We’re going to go into territory that the other guy thinks is theirs,” Kaine said.