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Harris Keeps Focus on Blue Wall States 10/17 06:12
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- With three weeks left in the presidential campaign,
Democrat Kamala Harris is spending most of her days trying to shore up support
in the "blue wall" states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as she tries
to avoid a repeat of Hillary Clinton's collapse there eight years ago.
The vice president campaigned at a hockey rink on Monday in Erie,
Pennsylvania, where she denounced Republican candidate Donald Trump as
"unhinged." She visited an art gallery in Detroit with actors Don Cheadle,
Delroy Lindo and Cornelius Smith. Jr. on Tuesday, then recorded a radio town
hall with Charlamagne tha God.
On Wednesday, Harris was back in Pennsylvania to stress allegiance to the
Constitution as she stood just steps from the banks of the Delaware River,
where George Washington crossed with his troops in a pivotal moment of the
Revolutionary War.
Her pace doesn't let up for the rest of the week. Harris is expected to hold
three events in Wisconsin on Thursday, including a meet-and-greet with students
at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and three more in Michigan on Friday.
She then campaigns in Detroit on Saturday.
A loss anywhere in the "blue wall," a name that reflects the region's
traditional Democratic leaning, could doom Harris' path to the presidency.
"You don't take those states for granted. And she's not," said Joel
Benenson, a Democratic pollster.
He previously served as chief strategist for Clinton, whose campaign was so
overconfident that it stopped conducting its own polls in Midwest battlegrounds
as the election approached.
"We've got a painful lesson in 2016 when we didn't go to the 'blue wall'
states, and we lost," Benenson said.
Harris' campaign emphasized that she's not giving up on Sun Belt
battlegrounds like North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. The vice
president was in North Carolina over the weekend and she's expected to be back
in Georgia on Sunday.
But any candidate's most precious resource is time, and Harris' schedule
reflects the consensus about her most likely shot at winning the White House.
"It's not the only path, but it's the easiest path to victory," said
Democratic pollster Celinda Lake.
She added, "If you can't win Pennsylvania or Michigan, do you really think
you can win Georgia or North Carolina?"
Pennsylvania and Michigan are Harris' most popular destinations since Labor
Day, with eight stops in each state, according to an Associated Press tracking
of candidates' public events.
At Harris' event in Washington Crossing on Wednesday, one voter said
Democrats had discovered the cost of complacency the hard way.
"In 2016, we thought we had it, you know, we thought we were okay," said
Melanie Woods, a retired school principal who came all the way from Brooklyn.
"And I don't think you can ever take anything for granted any more."
Dan Kanninen, the Harris campaign's battleground states director, said the
vice president has "multiple pathways" to win.
"All seven battleground states are in play, and we know each will be
incredibly close," he said. "That is why we will continue to engage and
mobilize voters aggressively across all these states until Election Day."
During her campaign travels, Harris is trying to pick strategic areas to
talk about key policies, such as promoting auto jobs and union membership in
Detroit and going to Douglas, Arizona to unveil plans to tighten rules for
immigrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border after she walked along the
towering wall separating the two countries.
The campaign is also increasingly relying on large organizational networks
in key states, including coordinated offices with state Democratic parties, to
fill in the gaps when Harris isn't there. It's deploying key surrogates -- most
notably Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz -- to lessen the impact
of choosing to travel to one part of the country versus the other.
Democrats have other benefits, too. There's a deep bench of high-profile
politicians who are united behind Harris, including former President Barack
Obama, who has been making campaign stops on her behalf. And there's a campaign
war chest larger than Trump's, allowing Harris to keep up the pressure with
advertising and expansive get-out-the-vote efforts.
Democrats' electoral odds have ebbed and flowed during this tumultuous
election year. President Joe Biden had faced a dwindling path to reelection,
with some purple states sliding out of reach. But when he dropped out of the
race in July, Harris' team emphasized her potentially broader geographic appeal.
"Vice President Harris enters a tight race, but it is clear that she can
bring together a coalition of voters to keep a wide set of states in play,"
Campaign Chair Jen O'Malley Dillon wrote in a memo in late July.
But that doesn't mean that some states aren't more important than others.
"You win Pennsylvania, and you're the next president," Sen. John Fetterman
said at Harris' rally in Erie.
Trump's travel is less tightly focused than Harris' this week. He was in
Pennsylvania on Monday, Illinois and Georgia on Tuesday and Florida on
Wednesday.
He attends the Al Smith charity dinner in New York on Thursday and returns
to Detroit on Friday
His previous visit there generated backlash because he criticized the city,
which is rebounding after years of financial problems.
"Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president,"
Trump said during a speech to the Detroit Economic Club.
Tommey Walker, founder and owner of the clothing company Detroit vs.
Everybody, derided Trump for disparaging his city while introducing Harris at
an event on Tuesday.
"Now it's Detroit versus Donald Trump," Walker proclaimed.
Harris, by contrast, talked about the city in reverent tones. She recalled
making friends with students from Detroit while attending Howard University.
"I just feel a kindred spirit whenever I come to Detroit," Harris said.
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