David Plouffe, a top adviser to Kamala Harris’ campaign, says the campaign is “throwing everything” into Wisconsin in the final 10 weeks of the presidential election.
“Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are the top of the list in terms of where you want to put your effort,” Plouffe said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “And here’s where the excitement matters. She’ll have the financial resources and the people resources. Why? You’re throwing everything you can into Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and I mean everything.”
Harris brought on Plouffe, who managed former President Barack Obama’s first presidential bid, after President Biden dropped out of the race.
“This is an unprecedented situation,” Plouffe said. “You basically got to build and win a presidential campaign in less than 100 days. So I’ve known Kamala Harris a long time. I know the campaign team well. So they’re just looking to add some arms and legs on top of what is already a great campaign.”
Plouffe added the ground game in the key swing states like Wisconsin will be critical.
“That’s the biggest concern is it’s just going to be close,” he said. “So I think Kamala Harris has the enthusiasm required to build the kind of organization to win a close state. The Wisconsin state party under Ben Wikler is a great organizing machine. So there’s good apparatus there. The folks in that state have won a lot of close elections up and down the ballot over the last few years. So we’re very confident, but in this election, Wisconsin’s not going to be decided by more than a couple points, unless Donald Trump really closes poorly. I still think Kamala Harris has some upside that’s even greater than where we see the race today. But at the end of the day, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, they’re all going to be super close.”
Former President Donald Trump will be in Wisconsin Thursday for a town hall in La Crosse, his campaign announced over the weekend, one of what is expected to be multiple stops ahead of Election Day.
“Gov. Thompson and I had a chance to talk to some of Trump’s people last week,” Bill McCoshen, a Republican strategist and former chief of staff to Gov. Tommy Thompson, told “UpFront.” “I think the president, the former president, will be in Wisconsin at least four times. I expect JD Vance will be there every week until the end of this thing. So we’re going to see a lot of activity on the Republican side.”
Coming from the DNC, McCoshen said Republicans and the Trump campaign need to focus on policy in the key states like Wisconsin.
“They’ve tried to make the convention about Donald Trump,” he said. “They want the race to be about Donald Trump. For Republicans to win, we need it to be about the issues that the voters care about — that’s inflation, gas prices, rent prices, those grocery prices and the border. Those are winning issues for us. Every poll says that we need to remain focused on those issues.”
“The best arguments are Democrats have been in charge of the White House for 12 out of the last 16 years,” McCoshen added. “So if you’re feeling like your family budgets are up in arms, Democrats have been there for 12 out of the last 16 years. So the question really is, are you better off today than you were four years ago? That’s what I think Donald Trump should be talking about. Every single day people are going to vote with their pocketbook first. I don’t think we have to get into any side issues at all for this thing to come home. But you know, we’re going to have to work really hard. Clearly they’re raising money at an unbelievable rate.”
ABC News Washington Bureau Chief Rick Klein told “UpFront” the Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News will be a “defining moment” in the campaign as the network prepares to host the event in Philadelphia.
“I think people are looking to see them in the room against each other for the first time,” Klein said during an interview on the convention floor in Chicago. “Harris did fairly well in the debate against Mike Pence four years ago, pretty well against Joe Biden in the primary debates, although her campaign really didn’t go anywhere. Trump has been an erratic figure at debates, and of course he won I suppose the last debate against Joe Biden when Biden fell apart on stage. But that doesn’t mean that his performance is at all predictable. I think it’s quite the opposite. I think people are going to be tuning in.”
Ahead of the debate on the ground in key swing states, Klein said he’ll be watching how or if Democrats capitalize on the energy coming out of Chicago.
“Almost certainly it’s going to be a couple of points one way or the other in about seven states,” Klein said. “And I think that’s something that has to settle in for the crowd because they have to figure out, okay, now what do you do with it? You have to organize. You have to show up. You have to translate this into something. It’s not just enough to be happy, to be excited, to be smiling.”
“Is this just a bounce that she gets going into a convention and around the convention because she’s new, because Tim Walz is new and getting known for the first time?” Klein added. “Or is this something that’s sustainable because there’s ups and downs in politics, and she hasn’t really had to define herself on policy. She hasn’t really had to take a political punch. She hasn’t done interviews. She hasn’t been on the beat yet. All of that will change in the next couple weeks.”
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