Why is Trump campaigning in blue states? WI, MI, CO, etc.? What does he hope to gain by this?

[RBInMaine]

What's his game here? Trying to project an image of confidence? Wasting his time, isn't he?

[writes3000]

2. He's trying to find the whitest states he can flip.

[Divine Discontent]

45. there's your answer, folks

[Joe941]

59. this

[geek tragedy]

3. WI so Paul Ryan can be blamed for his loss nt

[factfinder_77]

22. According to CNN, Ryan didnt even know that Trumper had arrived.

[Avalux]

4. He can't win unless he makes a blue state red.

Doesn't matter what else happens, Donald has to pick up a blue state.

[TrekLuver]

5. Yup he sure is wasting his time !!! And money (supposedly) and this will all of been just a big

waste of time and money if he doesn't win. I'd be so pissed at him saying that if I was one of his followers. That alone is another tip off that he doesn't give a rats rump about his followers and he just cares about himself.

[yellowcanine]

6. Because he needs at least one of those states to get to 270.

It is a rock and a hard place for the Trumpster.

[Dem2]

7. He can't win without them.

[workinclasszero]

8. The dumb ass finally woke up to the fact that he needs non deplorables

to vote for him to win.

7 days before the election when millions have already voted early!

[napi21]

9. If the poll results today hold he would still need to turn one blue State to Red.

Yes, he's wasting his time, but I guess he doesn't think so. Even some of States that are currently in HIS column are wavering.

I don't want to push this "It's over" idea though. The results STILL depend on turnout!

[Dawson Leery]

10. The Grand Wizard of Midtown figured out that he needs

non deplorables to win a national election.

[Awsi Dooger]

12. Trying to catch us sleeping

Hillary has tried to expand the map. Some states were considered locks and more or less left alone. After the Comey development Trump needs to pounce somewhere, and he viewed those states as greatest opportunity.

It makes sense but doomed to fail.

You'll notice Hillary has stepped up spending in those states, along with Virginia, to prevent Trump from pulling it off.

[Hannahcares]

13. WI and MI have republican governors who control election procedures

Opportunity for vote "flipping" and other election fraud more easily available in Republican led states.( remember wisconsin elections featuring "newly discovered ballots in Waukesha ?) Scott Walker may be able to "deliver" Wisconsin for Trump ( and Johnson) if Republicans can close the current poll gaps. Thus the Trump ad buys and perDonal appearances... been watching this for sdver weejs now... IMHO, Wisconsin for Hillary and Russ Feingold is in jeapordy.

[pnwmom]

49. Good point. And scary. n/t

[bulloney]

52. And I don't trust Govs. Walker or Snyder any farther than I can throw them.

[Tom Rivers]

15. mailing lists for trump tv and his other scam artist b.s. post-election?

though his team doesn't appear to be that great with data.

or if he's still serious about trying to win this, maybe he realizes certain states aren't going to come through for him so he has to throw one last hail mary and attempt to pick off a state or two that hillary and the dems thought was safe, and have his campaign play it off as him surging and just wanting to expand the map.

[BlueStreak]

17. He knows FLorida is lost. If true, then the only way to win is

to flip a couple of those blue states. His campaign may have concluded that with 4 million Floridians already having voted, there is no real opportunity to save Florida, so they sent him to places where there is still at least a mathematical possibility.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

19. Hillary still wins unless Trump can flip one of those "strongly leaning Clinton" states.

[Coyotl]

24. Trump knows he can't win at this point. By how much is the question now. GOTV

The real question today is, "Can he hang onto the four red leaning states?" and thus stay above the 200 mark. I doubt it. I expect three to go blue on election day, maybe even Texas if we get Latino turnout. We Dems are overcoming millions of suppressed voters and kicking butt anyway. Hopefully we have the turnout to overcome gerrymandering too.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

25. Just to be clear, I posted that map as a "worst case scenario" to offer...

... an explanation to the OP. It BETTER be a "worst case scenario," anyway!

I agree about GOTV and the gerrymandering problem.

[BlueCollar]

28. Cool map

What is it based on?

[Coyotl]

30. dKos election forecast:

http://elections.dailykos.com/app/elections/2016 I think. I'll double check.

Yes, but you have to click the "View Cartogram" tab.

[BlueCollar]

54. thanks

Still don't understand it though even though I found the blog.

[MSMITH33156]

55. Yep...

that's the answer. Really, the difference between 2012 and today is that Virginia and Colorado are basically gone and have been for months. Those were very competitive in 2012, so a possible map would have been what you posted, with Romney winning VA or CO (even losing IA in that scenario) and winning the presidency. Essentially, Hillary is starting +22 in EVs that are leaning her way versus Obama in 2008. Which means the GWB Republican strategy of winning Ohio and Florida as the winning path for a Republican no longer exists.

So Trump is throwing a Hail Mary. Frankly, he should have done this earlier. It's hard if not impossible to spin off and flip a state this late.

[Drunken Irishman]

26. My guess is he knows the map is shrinking and he needs to flip a blue state to have any chance...

[0rganism]

32. two answers, but first we have to separate "Trump"/"he" from "The Trump Campaign"/"he"

start with the orange fuckface, his situation is easier. tRump is simply incapable of handling negative news or disappointment without having a temper tantrum of the kind often followed by a tweetstorm meltdown. he has no clue about how poorly his campaign is received across America, he wants minimal input since it doesn't affect his output anyway and only impedes his mojo for the one thing he knows he does well: hold his trademark mini-Neuremberg rallies. in summary: no clue, doesn't want one, lock her up, ra ra ra.

i can only assume his top campaign staff have a different set of goals, one that is more complex.

first, they have to figure out which slivers of news they can feed to His Trumpiness without messing him up. no doubt much of his personal handlers' days are consumed with forming a wall of sorts between him and sources of negative media. on the other hand, he still needs fodder for his propaganda, so they can't keep him totally in the dark. this is tricky, and i'm pretty sure if they do it wrong enough they're gone quick.

and then there's the staff who spend the day fielding angry calls from Republican elites who have correctly observed that tRump is using the Republican base to destroy the Republican party. this includes people working on various down-ballot campaigns vigorously requesting Orange Foolius' presence or absence, depending upon the proportion of "base" in their candidates' respective constituencies.

mix them all together and you get his itinerary. he has to win a blue state or two to even have a shot at 270, and he has to motivate his base in those states to avoid a ginormous blowout. his staff needs to feed him a story about how he's winning in a blue state, maybe pulled from a Rasmussen poll of the area immediately after a rally, so he can turn it around and regurgitate tales of his greatness at another rally, thus continuing the cycle. finally, the GOP establishment has certain expectations, that he'll do at least something for advertising and down-ticket races, which must be met to avoid horses' heads ending up in certain beds, if you know what i mean.

basically tRump doesn't care where he is as long as he can feed off the crowds. he gets high as a goddam kite from those rallies, and everyone around him wants him to be happy as long as possible to keep the gravy flowing. he really only does one thing well, which is to put on his Mussolini impression before an audience, so his staff just tries to wheel him out in the places where it will generate the best fragments of information to use at his next rally.

from certain perspectives, such as actually winning the presidency, it's a waste of time and makes no sense. but if your goal is to keep your job and your horse, there is definitely a rationale.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

33. I agree. I'm sure it's his staff pushing Trump toward those states.

Trump is an insatiable attention whore. It wouldn't surprise me if he'd personally prefer to speak solely in parts Alabama, or wherever he gets the biggest crowds.

[0rganism]

35. and that ("speak solely in parts (of) Alabama") will start in mid-November

Trumplestiltskin still needs his crowd highs. he's obviously an addict. his staff needs to find him a place to vent where people will still flock to see him. most of the nation will be more than ready to see him gone and forget all about his sorry ass come Jan. 20, but he'll be a fascist junky looking for a fascism fix. fortunately there's a lot of deplorables still out there who will meet his needs, and if the cost is fomenting a white nationalist revolution so be it -- the people he trusts will bundle him around for his Sore Loser tour where he talks about how Crooked Hillary cheated to blow him out by 10 points. eventually he'll build up a resistance to that high too, and the crowds will begin to tire of him as well. he'll probably try to go back to TV to offer periodic "editorial" diatribes on his very own TNN. then he will complete his journey into senility and therein meet his end, confused, bitter and hated by the country he once groped bigly.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

36. I still think "Trump TV" might happen. The biggest argument against it that I've seen...

... is the cost, but I'm sure that Russians will be willing to help him in that regard. They have to be loving the turmoil that he's causing.

[0rganism]

37. oh absolutely it will happen

i imagine whoever bankrolls it, there will be at least one condition: Donald J. Trump must have nothing to do with operations, staffing, or financial management of said network.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

38. LOL! Yep! n/t

[greymattermom]

39. Isn't there already RT?

Maybe Trump will be the front man for RT.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

40. Maybe, but that might be too obvious because of what the "R" represents.

[anamandujano]

43. I trust no one has told him that every time someone mentions the word "email," another million

rolls into Hillary's war chest and every time someone mentions the word Comey, another five million rolls in.

[tblue37]

34. An audience for Trump TV and media empire. nt

[DeminPennswoods]

41. best bets for disaffected bluecollar white males

These two states are probably his best bet to try and get more of his base disaffected, blue collar, white males to turn out.

[apcalc]

42. He must own properties in them , so he can make some money

When he rents/uses the property as a campaign venue.

[Princess Turandot]

46. Perhaps the pollster whom he's supposedly refusing to pay the $750k owed to the company...

gave him a bum steer as a sendoff!

Okay, that probably didn't happen. Sad!

[BlueMTexpat]

47. In his own mind,

he is winning these states - and everywhere else. He believes his own lies.

[Norbert]

48. He is desperate

At the Wisconsin campaign stop he was telling his audience that if you voted for Hillary you can change your vote. Name me 5 people in his audience that actually did vote for Hillary.

He must flip a blue state like Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania. Good luck with that. If the TargetSamert poll in Florida is anywhere close to being right he may need to flip all three of those states.

[DFW]

53. Maybe Republican voter suppression in swing states is farther along than we know

That might explain it. Or else Trump's campaign is just incompetent. Also conceivable.

[Orsino]

60. Is he still sticking close to his properties?

If he doesn't log 750 hours of real estate "work" per year, he risks millions in extra tax liability.