Biden leans into Obama identification

[sfwriter]

6. By not campaigning there is one theory.

"CEDED??? How the hell did we do THAT??? "

By not adequately campaigning in the heartland and those three states, all Democratic stalwarts, in particular.

It is a quite popular theory among some and Clinton spends a chapter in What Happened? discussing and refuting it. Her take is that polling tanked there after Comey's October email announcement. It did, and she had no margin to spare.

Pete Buttigieg has pointed out, and caught hell for it from Clinton loyalists, that even the base messaging failed to offer those rural white voters a vision of the future. Remember these are guys who have seen wages and union membership plummet over the Obama years. He contrasts the appeal of Trumpian "Make America Great Again" with Clinton's "I'm With Her."

He is in Indiana and campaigned on her behalf and talked to those guys. He said she was ill served by her polling and messaging. The quote that got him in hot water with those Clinton Aids was:

“Donald Trump got elected because, in his twisted way, he pointed out the huge troubles in our economy and our democracy,” Buttigieg said. “At least he didn’t go around saying that America was already great, like Hillary did.”