The Democratic National Committee (DNC), still without a presidential nominee, announced its efforts to define presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), using its 50-state strategy as a way of meeting McCain wherever he goes.

In addition to its first ad targeting McCain, which was recently unveiled, the DNC and Chairman Howard Dean announced to reporters Monday they have begun the “phased roll-out” of a grassroots voter identification program that was tested in 2007.

Additionally, DNC workers already on the ground in states like Alabama and Kentucky as part of Dean’s oft-criticized 50-state plan will be in place to counter-punch McCain’s stops as he travels on tours like this week’s Time for Action Tour.

“You should know, if John McCain is coming to your state, we’re going to have something to say about it,” Dean said on a conference call with reporters Monday.

In 2004, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and President Bush’s reelection committee were widely credited by political analysts for successfully branding Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) as a “flip-flopper” before the Democratic nominee could successfully define himself in the terms he preferred.

With the two Democratic candidates still campaigning vigorously against each other, Dean said Monday the DNC will take on the challenge of trying to define McCain as “wishy-washy” on key issues and essentially offering a third Bush term.

“We find a candidate now trying to reinvent himself, as many of them do when they get the nomination,” Dean said. “We’re determined not to let him do that.”

The 50-state strategy also allows Democrats to continue building a national campaign infrastructure in the absence of a presidential nominee, Dean said.

While Dean said the absence of a nominee “does not cripple us in any way” and the DNC is ahead of where it was four years ago in terms of field operation, he conceded: “If we had a nominee, we could do more.”

RNC officials scoffed at Dean’s assertion that both the new organizing tool and 50-state strategy enable Democrats to compete for the presidency in rural areas with gun-owning voters who traditionally vote Republican.

“Like so much about Howard Dean, his delusional claims that Democrats will be able to connect with gun owners cannot be taken seriously,” said Alex Conant, an RNC spokesman, in a statement. “Raising taxes and banning the sale, possession and manufacture of handguns may go over well at elite San Francisco fundraisers, but not in small-town America.”