Time: “For Biden, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The package is not only the first big legislative item on his presidential agenda, but aims to launch a recovery from the pandemic and economic crisis that will inevitably define his first term. The trips also reveal a longer-term strategy, advisers and strategists say. Presidential travel during the pandemic takes on greater meaning when large parts of the country have effectively been in lockdown for a year and public safety guidelines must be strictly adhered to. In selecting two of the most critical battleground states, he’s using his political capital to tell the voters that helped send him to the White House how he’s delivering on his campaign pledges – and why they should stick with Democrats in elections to come.”

“‘It’s no accident that Wisconsin and Michigan are the first two trips for Biden,’ says Jim Margolis, a Democratic strategist. ‘They were must-win states in 2020, have big elections in 2022 and will undoubtedly be in the electoral bullseye again in 2024.’ The White House has publicly downplayed the political significance of these destinations, aside from noting that, as politically divided states, constituents have a wide range of views that will prove fodder for debate. Wisconsin ‘was a state where people have been impacted by the pandemic, they’ve been impacted by the economic downturn and the President felt he could have a good conversation with people about the path forward, even people who disagree with him,’ Psaki said Tuesday. ‘It’s not more complicated than that.’ While it’s true that both Michigan and Wisconsin have been hit hard by the pandemic and economic crisis, it’s equally true that Biden’s path to the White House ran through them. Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, a close Trump ally, is up for re-election next year, and Democrats are determined to oust him. And now that Biden has narrowly shifted both back to the Democratic column – he won Wisconsin by a mere 20,000 votes – he and his administration are determined to show these voters they don’t just matter every four years, and that he is providing them with the economic and pandemic relief he promised.”