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Former presidential advisers predict heavy campaign activity in Wisconsin by Democrats, Republicans before 2020 Democratic convention in Milwaukee.
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GREEN BAY - The Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee is more than a year away, but advisers to two recent presidents say they know what that means for both political parties campaigning in the state.
Speaking to reporters in Green Bay on Wednesday, David Axelrod and Karl Rove said Wisconsinites can expect stepped-up efforts from both parties as they vie to win a state that favored President Donald Trump by barely 27,000 votes in 2016.
Democrats will likely apply a full-court press to increase voter-turnout in the state's largest city, said Axelrod, who was a senior adviser to Barack Obama, and now contributes to CNN, does a podcast and heads the of University of Chicago Institute of Politics. Analysts say Trump beat Hillary Rodham Clinton in Wisconsin in 2016 in part because Republicans were more successful in getting their supporters to vote.
Rove, a former adviser to George W. Bush and now a Wall Street Journal and Fox News contributor, acknowledged that the party holding its convention in a state can enjoy a bit of a home-field advantage. But he predicted Trump and other Republicans would likely work to mitigate that by seeking increased exposure and frequency of candidate visits.
Both acknowledged Wisconsin as "a purple state," one in which voters can favor a Republican candidate as they did in helping elect Trump in 2016 — then turn around two years later and elect Democrats as governor and attorney general.
The pair visited the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Wednesday afternoon to speak with reporters and a group of students. A public presentation, sponsored by the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership and billed as a "Point/Counterpoint presentation," was planned for the evening.
Rove said he opposes the president's efforts to reduce the flow of people and goods across the nation's southern border, noting that his home state of Texas sells significant amounts of petroleum products and beef to countries south of the border.
That prompted some gentle ribbing from Rove, who said the statement is often credited to one of Obama's predecessors, Republican Ronald Reagan. To that, Axelrod replied that Obama was quick to credit the saying to Reagan.
Rove last month issued about three tweets every four days from his Twitter account, @KarlRove. His tweets commonly involve a link to a story, with a brief comment, but he says he doesn't like the platform.
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