President Joe Biden will visit Milwaukee tomorrow–a week ahead of the first GOP primary debate in Milwaukee– to tout what his administration has coined ‘Bidenomics.’
Biden will speak at Ingeteam Inc., according to the White House.
The green energy company has produced wind turbine generators at its Milwaukee facility.
Biden’s visit comes one day before the first anniversary of the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act that in part aims to mitigate climate change.
Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki on WISN’s “UpFront” predicted Biden would be in Wisconsin frequently ahead of the election.
“I think the president’s going to be here a lot,” he said on the program, which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “And I think that’s great because the more people see Joe Biden, they will see the contrast between his common sense agenda, bipartisan legislative wins and a Republican Party that is lost right now.”
Zepecki dismissed polling suggesting some Democrats aren’t enthusiastic about a Biden reelection bid.
“This is a really remarkable time in American history,” Zepecki said. “The far-and-away front-runner, former President Donald Trump, whether it’s a 20-point lead, a 30-point lead or a 40-point lead, has basically taken the Republican Party hostage.”
In advance of the debate, GOP presidential hopefuls tested debate messaging while barnstorming the fairgrounds at the Iowa State Fair.
“Well look, at the end of the day, we’re just going to talk about our vision for the future, we’re going to talk about our accomplishments,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on “UpFront.”
“I think it’s an important part of the process, and I will be there regardless of who else shows up, and we’re looking forward to being able to do it in Milwaukee.”
DeSantis, polling a distant second to former President Donald Trump, said he had already signed the pledge promising to support the eventual GOP nominee, a requirement set by the Republican National Committee to participate.
“At the end of the day, you’re going to go and participate and say you might not support somebody else against Biden?” DeSantis said. “I mean, you can’t, on one hand, say the country is going in such a bad direction, which we all believe, and on the other hand, say you’re going to take your ball and go home? Really?”
Trump said in recent days he wouldn’t sign the pledge and indicated he would announce this week whether he’ll attend the Aug. 23 event in Milwaukee.
“Looking forward to the debate,” said Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina governor. “It’s a great chance for the American people to see who their options are.”
Eight candidates have qualified to appear on the debate stage, the latest becoming former Vice President Mike Pence, who is polling in single digits and looking to the debate for a breakout moment.
“I tell people I’ve debated Donald Trump 1,000 times, just never with the cameras on,” Pence said. “Look, I know the former president. I know everybody on that stage, and I’m looking forward to a vigorous debate.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, the wealthy biotech entrepreneur, looked to tamper expectations for the first debate, calling it a “warm up for the rest.”
“Trump’s first debate performance wasn’t his best, everybody else on that stage has already been through multiple political debates,” Ramaswamy said. “I haven’t. And so I want to own that. So it might take a couple of debates for me to find my own stride.”
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum gave $20 gift cards in return for a $1 donation to reach the 40,000 donors required to make the first debate.
“Making the debate stage, these are like clubhouse rules the RNC came up with,” Burgum said. “Let’s just be clear what they are. As an entrepreneur, we just said, ‘how do we figure out a way to solve that, and we solved it at like one-fifth the cost others were doing (by) paying online fundraising organizations.”
See more from the show here.
