Harris needs to stop talking about the Cheneys and start talking about Obama

Obama is the last Democrat to win Wisconsin with more than 50 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton lost Wisconsin by 22,748 votes 2016And Joe Biden won by 20,862 2020. No party candidate won a majority in any Wisconsin election. Contrast that with Obama, who entered 2008 In Wisconsin, he won 56 percent of the vote, well above the national 53 percent. Tendon 2012It was a tough year for Democrats, with Obama winning 53 percent of the vote in Wisconsin, well above the 51 percent nationally.

Obama’s victory in Wisconsin was the largest for Democrats in the state since Lyndon Johnson. 1964 and includes Franklin Roosevelt 1936. And Obama’s victories were indeed statewide, winning dozens of rural counties as well as urban centers where Democrats have traditionally been strong. In 2008, he carried seven of the state’s eight congressional districts—including some that FDR lost in later bids. In 2012, Obama carried fewer congressional districts, but still won huge swathes of the state, including every county in southwestern Wisconsin and much of the northwest.

It is unlikely that any Democrat will do as well in Wisconsin as Obama did in 2008. But Harris can and should aim to win as many Wisconsin votes as Obama did in 2012 — when the party swept US Senate races and won. solid majorities of the vote for congressional and legislative seats statewide. Gerrymandering prevented Democrats from picking up their fair share of seats that year. But the newly drawn, correct maps can give the party much more appeal this year.

With the right campaign, Harris, who does according to recent polls, he is leading by a narrow margin In Wisconsinite, he can lead the Democrats to a similarly significant victory.

But you won’t do that if you keep talking about Dick and Liz Cheney.

It’s Obama who has the potential to win over Wisconsin voters with targeted media ads and, ideally, a high-profile appearance in the state with this year’s candidate.

Obama get Wisconsin. He has always maintained a strategic sense of how to campaign in the state where he defeated Hillary Clinton 58-40 in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.

Obama, who worked as a youngster with a Chicago-based law firm that maintained an office in Madison, knows where to campaign in the Badger State. In 2008 and 2012, he addressed urban voters in Milwaukee and Madison as usual. But he also paid attention to smaller cities such as Green Bay, Racine, Kenosha, Janesville, Wausau, La Crosse and Eau Claire, where he made many appearances and spoke about renewing manufacturing and increasing support for rural regions. state. He also talked about the costs of bloated military budgets and unnecessary wars. In 2008, Obama positioned himself to Clinton’s left in the primary race—emphasizing the fact that he opposed the rush to war in Iraq.

That position appealed to voters in Wisconsin, a historic center of opposition not only to the Vietnam War of the 1960s and ’70s, but to World War I as well. It was Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin who advised voters: “Stand firm. against the war and the future will honor you. Human rights cannot be founded on collective murder.” According to experts, these sentiments would destroy La Follette politically. Instead, he was re-elected in the largest landslide in the history of Wisconsin Senate races. The same was the case with Senator Gaylord Nelson, who in 1968 was re-elected on a Republican wave as an ardent opponent of the Vietnam War. And to Sen. Russ Feingold, who voted against the Iraq War in 2002 — just as he had opposed the Patriot Act in 2001 — and won his biggest victory of all time in 2004.

Obama recognized this tradition and embraced it in 2008, breaking with leaders of both parties to condemn “A Washington where politicians like John McCain and Hillary Clinton voted for a war in Iraq that should never have been authorized and never fought — a war that is costing thousands of precious lives and billions of dollars a week, crumbling schools and bridges used to rebuild; roads and buildings; which could have been invested in job training and childcare; in making health care affordable or within reach of college.”

It may be harder for Harris to break with an administration in which he serves. But he would be wise to recognize that a stronger stance in favor of a cease-fire in Gaza — and a cap on U.S. military aid to Israel — would garner far more support in Wisconsin than the appearance of a neoconservative militarist like Liz Cheney.

Indeed, if Harris is going to show up in Wisconsin with anyone, it should be Obama. He knows how to speak to the emotions of the state, how to campaign effectively in his communities, and how to win big on Election Day.