Rubbing elbows with the deplorables.
Via Politico:
In the early run-up to 2020, would-be candidates are skipping Iowa and New Hampshire for a new set of must-stop destinations: big battleground states like Florida, Ohio and Michigan.
Wary of planting a Trump-sized target on their backs so far out from the election, many potential 2020 hopefuls are avoiding headline-drawing trips to traditional primary-season destinations like Des Moines, Manchester, Columbia and Las Vegas. Instead, at least half a dozen Democrats with the potential to become serious contenders — including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey — have been quietly visiting battleground states that will likely be front-and-center in the next presidential election.
The official purpose of the trips is almost always to raise money for colleagues up for reelection in 2018. But the visits also provide White House wannabes an easy way to build in-state credibility and ties to local power-players and contributors who may prove influential three years down the line.
“It’s smart politics because electability is going to be such a big factor in this primary: Are you going to be able to beat Donald Trump? And do well in these big battlegrounds? So they’re going to build support in Florida and Ohio and Virginia. They’re going to grow their networks there,” said Democratic operative Scott Arceneaux, the Florida Democratic Party’s former executive director.
“It’s the nationalization of our politics: You don’t have to go to Des Moines to be on TV in Des Moines,” he added. “You can do a rally in Philly and be seen on MSNBC in Manchester.”
Not everyone is playing coy with their travel. Seeing little reason to skate under the radar, the two best-known potential 2020 contenders — former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — have both repeatedly visited early voting states like New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina this year. A range of little-known long-shots have barnstormed them as well, in bids to increase their own recognition.
But for the collection of statewide officials whose political profiles fall somewhere in between, Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Richmond have provided less fraught venues for building political capital. Among the top destinations, according to itineraries reviewed by POLITICO: states that Trump famously flipped from Democratic hands in 2016 and which now have Democratic senators facing tough challenges.