The article in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is behind their paywall. (Joe Biden is outspending Donald Trump on TV ads in Wisconsin in the run-up to the election). I will pull out the pertinent portions here and then get on with my concerns:
Biden and pro-Biden groups have outspent Trump and pro-Trump groups by a margin of 2-to-1 here since Sept. 1, according to data provided to the Journal Sentinel by the ad-tracking firm Advertising Analytics.
That advantage grows to around 5-to-1 when comparing spending by just the two candidates alone.
The advertising gap between the two sides is bigger in October than it was in September.
There are real questions about how many voters are swayed or mobilized by TV ads at a time when public attitudes toward the incumbent president are very entrenched and polls suggest the overwhelming majority of minds in this race are made up.
So the Biden campaign and Biden supporting organizations are outspending Trump supporters. Whoop de doo! Yes, I suppose that’s a good thing but I fear it will make voters complacent and it again smacks a bit that the Biden campaign is taking a limited increase in interest in Wisconsin. Yes, they are spending more money but the candidate hasn’t been here in ages…and that isn’t a good thing.
The president or at least one of his surrogates has been in the state at least once a week. The president has another appearance scheduled today in Janesville, WI. A number of members of the Trump family have been here…the vice president has been here a number of times…as has the president himself (although two campaign events were canceled while the president was recuperating at Walter Reed).
The Biden campaign hasn’t been anywhere near as active and I fear that will have negative effects on voter turnout in Wisconsin.
Joe Biden himself needs to visit Milwaukee and probably Madison. And he needs to publicly meet with local leadership like County Executive David Crowley, Common Council President Cavalier Johnson, Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, Rep. Gwen Moore, and other Democratic electeds who are people of color. Milwaukee is noted as a very segregated city and Joe Biden needs to show up and show support and get out his message to promote social equality and economic opportunity. He really really does.
And he needs to do it soon…early voting in Wisconsin starts October 20. Tomorrow wouldn’t be too soon.
I’d settle for Barack Obama, FYI.
But yes, no complacency. And especially with redistricting looming, Dem need to seen blasting do-nothing GOPs at every corner of the state.