On the day of the Trump event, Sanders backers rallied in Green Bay to challenge presidential claims that have never stood up to serious scrutiny.

What Sanders and his supporters are doing is sly. They won't neglect the primaries and caucuses that are essential to winning the nomination. But instead of focusing exclusively on the competition with Joe Biden and the other Democrats, they are messing with Trump with an eye toward exposing the president's lies and reframing the fight for the battleground states.

That's not all that will be required for the Democrats to win back states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — and perhaps Indiana and Ohio — in the fall of 2020. The party's nominee is still going to have to make a convincing case that she or he is prepared to respond to deindustrialization, automation and other challenges faced by factory workers, traditional industries and historic manufacturing communities.

But Sanders is making a smart start by refusing to surrender territory where Democrats once won presidential races — and where a fighting Democratic Party could win again.

John Nichols is associate editor of The Capital Times. jnichols@madison.com and @NicholsUprising.

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