Biden and Bill Hit the Campaign Trail

Trying to saturate states where Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers are weak, Democrats unleashed two old war dogs on Monday.

In Florida, Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to visit Orlando and Sarasota in Florida.

The group’s study found that 44.2 percent of Toledo residents, or 125,000 people, are living in economically distressed areas. This is the Obama economic legacy.

And former President Bill Clinton will visit Saginaw and Flint in Michigan.

Both surrogates are noteworthy for two reasons: One, the use of Bill Clinton and Biden show Hillary Clinton plans to continue to campaign on the status quo and nostalgic memories of the past. And two, states such as Florida and even Michigan have Hillary Clinton’s campaign nervous.

The use of former President Bill Clinton in Michigan’s recession-weary cities of Saginaw and Flint is especially notable. The Clinton campaign apparently fears Republican Donald Trump’s trade rhetoric is lifting the populist billionaire candidate in a state that has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988.

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A recent Detroit News/WDIV-TV poll has Hillary Clinton leading Trump, 42 percent to 35 percent. But the Clinton campaign apparently feels that is not a safe lead.

For one, Hillary Clinton is well below 50 percent herself.

“It’s a lead but it’s not an overwhelming one,” said Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California.

Michigan has long been hammered by competition from foreign car companies, recessions, and a weak recovery. And also bad news — recently, Ford Motor Co. announced it was moving small-car production to Mexico.

Trump leaped on the news, hoping to score points in Michigan and the Midwest, which depends substantially on the automotive industry.

“Trump is a protectionist, and protectionism does have an appeal in much of Rust Belt America,” said Pitney.

So just in case that message is setting in, two top campaign figures were in the Midwest on Monday.

Hillary Clinton herself was scheduled to be in Toledo, Ohio, a great place to grab media attention in both Ohio and southern Michigan.

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The Lucas County city sits beneath Michigan, along Lake Erie. It is Ohio’s fourth-largest city.

What exactly Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton will promise to Toledo and Michigan is anyone’s guess. Toledo, Saginaw, and Flint have been left weak by a poor economic recovery.

Earlier this year, Toledo was listed as the fourth-most economically distressed city, after Cleveland, Detroit and Newark, New Jersey. The study was done by the Economic Innovation Group, a Washington bipartisan entrepreneurial organization.

According to the Toledo Blade, the group’s study found that 44.2 percent of Toledo residents, or 125,000 people, are living in economically distressed areas. This is the Obama economic legacy — but Hillary Clinton appears to believe she can make hay of it.

In Florida, Vice President Joe Biden faces a slightly easier task of defending the status quo, because he can bank off the successful efforts of Republican state officials.

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The Sunshine State, while still hurting from the housing-based recession of 2007-2009, has tried to manage through the weak recovery. The state had a 4.7 percent unemployment rate in August after seeing double-digit unemployment rates in 2009 and 2010.

There is a lot for Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, to boast about. Scott will tell you he and his Republican legislature worked Florida out of its malaise.

And earlier this year, when Scott made such a case, the liberal Tampa Bay Times and its dubious fact-checking outfit, PolitiFact, said Floridians were only now beginning to get back to where they were before the recession, in 2006 and 2007.

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Biden selling Florida on the status quo will be a tough job. The Democrats will try to take credit for the gains but not the problems of the weak recovery. They will be given aid in this task by a predominantly liberal media.

But Florida is no cakewalk. President Obama lost his comfortable margin of 2008, only winning Florida by 74,000 votes in 2012 — less than 1 percent.

The past and the status quo is what Hillary Clinton owns. She has to manage it. In late July, at a Democratic National Convention rally, Hillary Clinton admitted she would not be defending a record of malaise, while at the same time arguing for new policies.

“I’m not satisfied with the status quo,” she said in Philadelphia, according to CBS News. “I’m not telling you that everything’s just peachy keen.”

The question for voters in Michigan, Ohio, and Florida will be: If you were part of this dismal past and the mediocre present, why should you be part of the future? And why are you sending out Bill and Biden?