The day after President Obama gives his State of the Union address, he's flying to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, which pretty much no one has ever heard of since 1962, when a 20-pound piece of Sputnik crashed into the road there. "Why Manitowoc?" those big-city snobs at First Read ask.
They think it's because the county is becoming a lot less friendly to Obama, who won it with 53 percent of the vote in 2008. "But last year, victorious Republicans Scott Walker (in the governor’s race) and Ron Johnson (in the Senate contest) won, respectively, 60% and 58% in Manitowoc. This isn't that friendly of a county for the president; it's arguably GOP leaning since Obama's percentage in the county in 2008 underperformed his percentage in the state (56%) by three points."
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Elspeth Reeve
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