I've just written an article entitled 'The need for a permanent "ground game"' on my blog Bluestate Georgia
Here's a brief summary in case you don't want to look at the whole article:
1) We should merge the 50 state strategy developed by Howard Dean with the techniques of the much-touted Obama "ground game" of 2008 and 2012
2) The way to begin this is for the DNC to provide each state's party with funds to hire a few field organizers. (Not just local functionaries, but actual field organizers)
3) There should be an attempt to have this largely in place by the 2014 midterm elections so that the approach can be tested.
Since I'm only active at the precinct level, my ability to actually do much more than write about the idea is limited. But I've spent a great deal of time thinking about how one would go about building the Democratic Party in Georgia, and deliberate building of the organization by aggressive organizers is the way to go (other than maybe sit back and hope that changing demographics does our work for us).
I suspect that this is true in places like Idaho and Utah as well. There are Democrats and progressives everywhere. They just need to be organized and given hope.