Those who saw the barrage of 20-plus ads aired by Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton (at least in the Detroit area) during Wednesday night’s World Series broadcast know that both presidential candidates have flipped the switch in Michigan for an all-out TV ad war.

The Trump campaign has very publicly decided to target Michigan in the final days with significant ad buys but Clinton is now doing the same, though the state hasn’t voted Republican for president in the last six elections. The reason? Her support here is “a little soft.”

That’s the take offered by a Clinton ally to The Hill in a report this morning that suggests the Democratic nominee is doubling back out of concern that her lead in the Great Lakes State might be slipping due to a lack of voter enthusiasm.

The surest sign of an 11th-hour adjustment in strategy by the former secretary of state is her decision to make a campaign appearance in Detroit on Friday, just four days before the election.

The Democratic strategist who talked with The Hill offered this curious comment: “We’re going to make sure they (the Michigan campaign team leaders) have the resources they need. When they say, we need this to win, they’ll get it. It’s a state that needs care and feeding. We want to make sure they’re not an afterthought.”

Clinton has led Trump in every Real Clear Politics polling average in Michigan since the campaign began, and her aggregated edge is currently at 7 percentage points. But Bernie Sanders surprise win over Clinton in the  March primary has cast doubts among some about polling in this state ever since.

Over the past week, Clinton surrogates who have campaigned for her here include Sanders, running mate Tim Kaine and daughter Chelsea Clinton. Bill Clinton was in Detroit Wednesday night meeting with ministers.

Trump held two large rallies on Monday, in Grand Rapids and Warren, and his VP pick, Mike Pence, will be in Portage today.

Clinton’s Detroit visit on Friday appears to be a get-out-the-vote effort as the campaign worries about turnout among black voters and Millennials.

Former state GOP chairman Dave Doyle told The Hill that, with no Senate race in Michigan and no competitive House races in the Detroit area, the last-minute decision to campaign in Michigan is clearly an effort to boost Clinton and not to help down-ballot Democratic candidates as she has in many other states.

“There’s obviously some concern on their part,” Doyle said. “The odds are Hillary still carries the state, but who knows what’s going to happen in an election like this.”

 

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