Say Cheese!

Today's Washington Post points out something that is rather obvious to campaign watchers: president Obama is in trouble in Wisconsin. The story here is not the polls which show the race to be very close. No, the main point is that next weekend, Obama is coming to Wisconsin to campaign. In the last fifty days of a presidential campaign, a visit by the candidate is never made to places that have no significance. Sure, Obama might go to New York or California to raise cash, but such visits are rare at the end of the campaign. Instead, every campaign stop is designed for maximum effect in November. States that are clearly heading in one direction or the other do not get visits. The rallies are held in places where the campaign needs help to carry close elections. What that means is that team Obama views its efforts in Wisconsin as needing help. Beyond the visit from Obama, the news is also out that the Obama campaign has made a major television buy for advertising between now and election day on stations across Wisconsin. As of now, Obama is slated to spend about twice as much as Romney in the state. Romney makes up for some of that since his super PACs are poised to outspend the Democrat super PACs. It will be interesting to see where the polls in Wisconsin go as we get closer to election day. My guess is that we will soon see some polling from Wisconsin that shows Romney in the lead or the race tied. Nothing else can explain the Wisconsin panic from the Obama folks.