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The first lady Jill Biden is set to visit the political battleground states of Wisconsin and Iowa this week to help vulnerable Democrats as they begin to worry about their chances of keeping their seats and the majority in the House. Jill will stop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Wednesday, as well as Des Moines, Iowa, with Rep. Cindy Axne, the lone Democrat in Iowa’s congressional delegation.

President Trump’s cutting back on campaign commercials in some of the key Midwestern battlegrounds that helped him win the White House four years ago – and shifting resources to a bunch of crucial swing states further south. The president’s re-election campaign has dropped roughly $2 million in ad reservations in Michigan and Wisconsin since last month, according to Advertising Analytics , Medium Buying, and Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group , three leading ad tracking firms. Trump narrowly won the two states in 2016, breaking a quarter century long winning streak by Democrats.

Last updated: September 23, 2020 Elections for 35 U.S. Senate seats will take place in 2020.[1] Ballotpedia has identified 16 races as general election battlegrounds. Of the 16 seats, four have Democratic incumbents and 12 have Republican incumbents heading into the election. These battleground seats were selected by examining the results of the 2016 presidential election in the state, whether the incumbent was seeking re-election, and whether the incumbent was serving his or her first term in the Senate. Race ratings from the Cook Political Report, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales were also considered. For more...

Last updated: September 23, 2020 Elections for all 435 U.S. House seats will take place in 2020. Ballotpedia has identified 39 of the 435 House races (9.0%) as battlegrounds. Of the 39 seats, 20 have Democratic incumbents, 18 have Republican incumbents, and one has a Libertarian incumbent. These battleground districts were selected by examining the 2018 winner's margin of victory, the results of the 2016 presidential election in the district, whether the incumbent is seeking re-election, and whether the incumbent is serving his or her first term in Congress. Race ratings from the Cook Political Report, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and...

Ride-sharing company Lyft’s new turn-out-the vote effort in cities in five battleground states has sparked outrage from conservatives who think it is a ploy to help Democrats win in November. Lyft has formed a partnership with More Than A Vote, an advocacy group led by Black athletes including basketball player LeBron James, to provide free and discounted rides to polling locations in major cities in five key battlegrounds: Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Tea Party Patriots’ Jenny Beth Martin said Thursday that her legal team is reviewing its options to challenge Lyft’s actions as a potentially “illegal corporate...

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign is spending heavily on ads to fortify his standing in battleground states that Democrats won in 2016. Biden’s team signaled over the weekend that it was moving up the start of its television ad campaign in Minnesota after protests racked the Minneapolis region following the shooting of Jacob Blake. Originally, the Democrat nominee’s campaign had planned to go on air in Minnesota on September 8. The decision, however, changed as the Republican Nation Convention and mounting concerns over continuing social unrest in America’s cities saw a boost in support for President Donald Trump. Recent...

KEY POINTS In reporting about the 2020 presidential contest, it’s likely that at least some of those stories quote nationwide polls. Hopefully most Americans have figured out that both the primary elections to choose a presidential nominee and the general election to choose the president are state-by-state contests. But statewide polls are much less reliable than nationwide surveys. There’s a multi-faceted silver lining to all of this if we’re all willing to admit the truth about this polling conundrum.

“Where’s all the support? People generally are feeling Trump is beating us on all fronts right now,” one DNC official said. Several Democratic National Committee members have a message to their organization’s top leadership: President Trump is crushing us. After pledging to compete everywhere ahead of the next election, multiple DNC members told The Daily Beast they have privately sounded alarms about the organization’s strategy heading into 2020, emphasizing what they view as Chairman Tom Perez’s inability to reach swing voters in Midwestern battleground states who voted for the president. A handful of Midwestern targets were critical to Trump’s general...

"The examination of war from an exclusively military perspective, isolated from its social and political context, leads to false conclusions and poor strategy." That is the conclusion of Emile Simpson, a former infantry officer in the Royal Gurkha Rifles, who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan, in his book, War From the Ground Up. The book has won extraordinary praise from the veteran British military historian Michael Howard, who wrote in the Times Literary Supplement, calling it "a work of such importance that it should be compulsory reading at every level in the military." Howard compares Simpson's book to...

This election is not turning out the way President Barack Obama had expected. Perhaps that is why he has looked so uncomfortable in his three debates with the suddenly debonair Governor Mitt Romney. Possibly President Obama had expected something more from the former governor of Massachusetts, the former CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympics, the former head of Bain Capital -- and, incidentally, is not Bain Capital assuming the same demonic role in this contest between Obama and Romney as Halliburton industries once played in the campaigns of Bush-Cheney? It is, I suppose, an asset that in all their years...

The Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe on Third Avenue is one of those places where men who want to be president stop to look decidedly un-presidential. Al Gore visited the shop; so did John Kerry. President Barack Obama opted for ice cream instead and went to the Windmill, eight miles up the road. “It is where you take them to make candidates look authentic,” explained a Democrat strategist who routinely works on presidential campaigns in the Keystone State. After orchestrating three statewide presidential wins, the strategist said he is sitting out this cycle. He doesn’t see Obama winning Pennsylvania in 2012....

I have some incredible news for you. Last week I reported that the National Republican Trust PAC had raised more than $1 million for its emergency effort to expose Barack Obama in key swing states. Our goal was to raise $2 million by today. We smashed that goal: we have raised over $3 million today! Your generosity made this possible. You are standing up for this country against one of the most vicious assaults ever waged on the Republican party by the liberal media establishment. Smear after smear against Sarah Palin and John McCain. But Obama's leftwing agenda and radical...

So much for the 50 State Strategy, announced just last week. The Obama campaign admits neither FL and OH "was hospitable to Obama this year." Even three states Kerry won (PA, MI, NH) "look competitive" for McCain. Obama will try to pick off VA, NM, and others to make up the difference. Is Obama the underdog in this Year of the Democrat?

Over in the Corner, Ramesh reports from a Bushie, ""Virtually every county in Florida that is mostly reported has swung to us since 2000, the median being something like 5-6% in terms of vote margin. We’ll see how the Gold Coast comes in, but with numbers like this we should not have a problem." According to a source close to the Bush campaign, the current assessment is that the President will win Ohio and Florida. We'll be competitive and have a chance to win in all the battleground states including Wisconsin, Iowa, New Mexico and Pennsylvania - states that Al...

Some are claiming there is a disconnect between national and state polls. The table below projects the turnout for this election based on state-by-state population growth available from the US Census. I then multiply this turnout prediction by the latest credible State polls (i.e. Mason-Dixon; Gallup; Quinnipiac; Marist; Strategic Vision; etc. - not ARG; Zogby; Lake, Snell, Perry; LA Times; etc.) shown on Freeper Dales "Daly Thoughts" Blog, tally up the state-by-state totals for each candidate, and divides them by the total predicted turnout. Results? Bush 48.8%, Kerry 45.4% in the national tally. Compare to the numbers on Real Clear...

The Ohio poll doesn't look great for Bush at all, but weekend polling. NV looks good and MO as well. VA doesnt seem right.

 President, OH 10/19/2004   Kerry (D) 49%   Bush (R) 47%   Other/Undecided 3%   Data Collected 10/16/04 - 10/18/04   Geography State of Ohio   Sample Population 698 Likely Voters   Margin of Error 3.8%   Client WCPO-TV Cincinnati    WKYC-TV Cleveland   U.S. Senate, OH 10/19/2004   Voinovich (R) 58%   Fingerhut (D) 34%   Other/Undecided 9%   Data Collected 10/16/04 - 10/18/04   Geography State of Ohio   Sample Population 692 Likely Voters   Margin of Error 3.8%   Client WCPO-TV Cincinnati    WKYC-TV Cleveland   President, MO 10/19/2004   Bush (R) 51%   Kerry (D) 45%   Other/Undecided 4%   Data Collected 10/16/04 - 10/18/04   Geography State of Missouri   Sample Population 670 Likely Voters   Margin of Error...

Boring results.

President Bush will consider making an expensive run for New Jersey's electoral votes and is likely to spend more money in Washington state if his leads in heartland swing states hold up after the opening presidential debate Thursday night, Republican officials said Saturday. The candidates withdrew from the campaign trail over the weekend to prepare for the three debates, which will take place over the next two weeks and are seen by both sides as the last chance for a major momentum shift in the race. Bush held a formal practice at his Texas ranch Saturday night with top White...