Kamala Harris IS anchored in Pennsylvania right now…..
A win there just about assures her the Presidency…..
She seems good in the other states that would add on like Michigan, Wisconsin Arizona and Nevada….
And she IS making sure she runs her ‘touches’ thru places President’s and Vice President’s rarely motor thru….
Washington comes to voters she wants and needs….
This as she reaches in person for GOP long shots in North Carolina and Georgia up close ….
Could this approach also help down ballot Democrats?
Kamala Harris knows where her weaknesses are — and she’s steering her campaign bus straight at them.
The vice president isn’t focusing only on big, Democratic strongholds like Milwaukee, Atlanta and Philadelphia. She’s traveling to smaller cities like Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Savannah, Georgia, too.
And in Pennsylvania, over the last week alone, Harris has not only attended the debate in Philly but gone to Johnstown, a small city in a deep-red expanse; Wilkes-Barre, in a white working-class county that was once reliably Democratic before flipping to former President Donald Trump; and Pittsburgh, a mostly white city surrounded by GOP-friendly areas….
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The campaign is less concerned now about locking up the Democratic base, eschewing the need to focus quite as heavily on major liberal cities like Philly. Instead, Harris’ team sees room to grow among many of the types of voters located in the smaller cities, exurban locales and rural areas that she is now visiting: older, mostly non-college-educated, white voters.
Harris has expanded on Biden’s favored events in Philadelphia and dedicated a significant portion of her resources on other parts of the state. In fact, Harris has clocked more stops in western Pennsylvania in the first six weeks of her candidacy than Biden did in the entire six months prior.
“There are voters who need to hear a bit more about the vice president who simply do not know her the way they knew Joe Biden,” said Dan Kanninen, Harris’ battleground states director. “We need to fill that knowledge gap for folks and make sure they understand who she is, what she stands for, and that she’s fighting for all Americans.”
Harris is campaigning in places Biden had not. Just look at Pennsylvania.
Harris’ expanded focus is particularly evident in Pennsylvania, which the vice president has barnstormed more than any other battleground — and polls show a tight race.
In a bus tour that took place ahead of the Democratic National Convention, she visited the conservative Beaver County and Pittsburgh’s suburbs. And her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, went to the traditionally Republican Lancaster County, rural Fayette County, the bellwether Erie County and Pittsburgh in a two-day swing earlier this month.
Her face-off with Trump took place in Philadelphia. But it was Pittsburgh where she spent several days preparing and participating in mock debates — and garnering local news coverage.
More than two decades younger than Biden, Harris has the energy to maintain a much more vigorous schedule criss-crossing the battleground states. And Harris and Biden aides argued that some of the difference can be explained by the election calendar: Earlier in the cycle, presidential candidates must unite their base. They later turn to winning over swing voters, and Biden would have ultimately gone to these places, too, they said….
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“What you see is the vice president, yes, learning lessons from winning presidential campaigns, even presidential campaigns that may not have been from our party,” said Harris confidant Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.).
Trump’s campaign dismisses the potential power of Harris’ strategy. The former president is looking to run up the score in rural counties that have heavily backed him since his first campaign, and his team points to Trump’s support for farmers, confrontational approach toward China and trade deals as points of appeal for rural and blue-collar workers….
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. John Fetterman, whose motto was “Every County, Every Vote,” both employed versions of that strategy in the 2022 midterms. Shapiro’s running mate, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, said Harris is “following the playbook.”
“You really have to traverse the entire state and engage everyone, and even particularly in places where it’s not easy to be a Democrat,” he said. “You can lose there, but you can’t lose by a crazy margin.”…
image….Vice President Kamala Harris holds a bottle of spice during a campaign stop at Penzeys Spices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 7. | Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty
If Pa. Is the linchpin to the election, which it very well may be?
Then why in the world didn’t she choose Shapiro as her running mate?
Walz? He’s ok I guess, rather inoffensive, but I don’t see where he helps near as much as the popular Shapiro would in this very pivotal state.
I think Shapiro would NOT have worked out WITH her…
My wife thinks he’s a bit TOO slick and out front….
She’s doing the right thing by spending time there….
I believe she HAS Michigan and Wisconsin
With Gallego over Lake I think she has Arizona also…..
Nevada would seal the deal….
North Carolina and Georgia would be haymaker’s against Trump and GOPer’s/MAGA
Pa IS the Key……
Except for the Trump 2016 0.7% win there?
It’s a solid Blue state
Besides your wife’s “opinion.?”
Explain your conclusory “I think Shapiro would not have worked out with her?”
My feeling is that Shapiro is NOT laid back …Has a bit TOO much horsepower….
Walz IS Middle West and it seems things have just rolled off him…..
Shapiro IS Pennsylvania …..
He SHOULD be helping Harris nevertheless….
It’s nice to “ feel” that way.
Nobody believes that Harris “has” Arizona at this point. That will be a hard one to win.
But taking your premise, even if she wins Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada, but loses Pennsylvania, she loses the election.
Pennsylvania is crucial and if she does not win there, she is also probably not winning Arizona.
I agree with jack that considering the necessity of PA, that Shapiro would have been the better option. Maybe they have would have had problems with him in the WH, maybe not, but none of that matters if you do not win the election
Walz appealed more to liberals, but they already should have had them. He did not help with centrists. The idea that picking Walz was going to somehow get a bunch of former Democrats turned Trump supporters who are hunters, sportsmen, etc, to go to Harris was not just realistic. To win the Presidency, Democrats need affluent white collar voters in the Philadelphia suburbs, who are turned off by Trump but dislike the economic policies of the Democrats. If they lose PA narrowly and it costs them the election, it will be seen as a huge miscalculation.
My view IS Gallego WILL pull Harris over….
His chance for a win is up there I believe at about 75%…..
The state IS trending Dem with Trump winning by leass than 1% and Biden coming in the highest since 1964…..
Well CG?
Looking at 270 to win?
My view gets Harris to around 287 and THAT’s a WIN?…..
CG?
“Post-Biden dropping out, Harris has gotten a lot of good polling out of places like Georgia and North Carolina,” said Decision Desk HQ’s Scott Tranter. “She is doing stronger among the African American segment than Joe Biden was, and then [there’s] enthusiasm among Democratic and some independent voters in these states — enthusiasm that she has that Joe Biden didn’t have.”
Trump is leading Harris by 0.3 percentage points in Georgia, and Harris is leading Trump by 0.1 percentage points in North Carolina, according to the Decision Desk HQ/The Hill’s aggregation of polls, suggesting both states are toss-ups. A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday showed Trump with a slight edge over Harris in Georgia and declared the race in North Carolina too close to call.
Fox News this week shifted its forecast to give Harris the edge in the overall presidential race, largely because it now views Georgia and North Carolina as toss-up states. Fox News previously favored Trump in both states….
More…
U might want to cut back the Twitter MAGA stuff……
Arizona CG…..
….The 19th-century abortion law in the battleground state of Arizona was officially repealed on Saturday.
The 1864 law, which was initially passed even before Arizona became a state…
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With the repeal being official, the state will revert back to the 15-week abortion ban. The law has an exception for the life of the mother, but none for cases of incest or rape.
Arizona voters could make abortion a fundamental right in their constitution this November. Arizona for Abortion Access, the group spearheading the initiative, garnered enough signatures for the measure to be on the ballot. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) said in mid-August that the measure got nearly 200,000 more than the required number of signatures and will be on the ballot as “Proposition 139.” …..
More…
Abortion IS running in the background for the November vote……
And votes WILL probably keep being to undo the Alito 5’s efforts….
I think Harris could get some of that push back….
Trump certainly thinks so and is countering his hardcore Right -to -Lifers…..
I have no idea what the hell you are even talking about and I doubt you do either.
….’she almost certainly will not get 270′?
Harris IS leading…..
She has the fundamentals …..
For me?
Her chances ARE Better than Trump…..
He’s working his base….
She HAS her base a working for the leaks and bleeds from the Grand ole Party and them Swing Voters that left Biden but want back with Harris….
There is no such thing as reverse coattails. Again, if she doesn’t win Pennsylvania, she almost certainly will not get 270