V.P. Pence’s rally builds on slew of Trump surrogate visits to Western Pa.

Vice President Mike Pence affirmed his confidence Friday afternoon in West Mifflin that he believes President Donald Trump will again clinch victory in Pennsylvania, among the most critical battleground states in the 2020 election.

Air Force Two touched down at 4 p.m. at Allegheny County Airport, about seven miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The stop followed Pence’s remarks at a similarly themed rally earlier in the day held in Swanton, Ohio.

“Well, hello, Pennsylvania!” Pence told about 300 to 400 supporters seated outside Lynx FBO’s hangar, prompting the crowd to rise to their feet and start chanting “Four more years!”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Pence said. “… It is great to be in a state where you refuse to lose, the Keystone State. And we are less than 11 days away from a great victory all across Pennsylvania and all across America.”

During his roughly 45-minute remarks, Pence hit on many of the same topics and mimicked many lines from the Sept. 9 rally that the vice president hosted at the site of a natural gas well pad in New Sewickley, Beaver County. He touted the Trump-Pence ticket as the way to economic recovery and upholding of “law and order,” and accused Biden of being “nothing more than a Trojan horse for the radical left” who seeks to raise taxes, increase regulations on businesses and “pack the courts.”

“President Donald Trump created the greatest economy in American history,” Pence said. “We are opening up America again, and we are opening up America’s schools.”

Pence noted that, starting this weekend, “Big Ten football is back.”

Among things the vice president spoke about that elicited standing ovations and cheers: promoting the natural gas industry; defunding Planned Parenthood; and ensuring America does not become “a socialist country.”

Though the vice president’s messaging did not stray much from what he and Trump have been saying at a slew of similar events in recent months, political observers note that the visibility and potential ripple effect of in-person visits can have on boosting a presidential candidate’s chances in places such as Pennsylvania, where polls show Biden holding a narrow lead.

In addition to Trump and Pence, many of Trump’s family members, administration leaders and surrogates have been campaigning in force in Western Pennsylvania , in particular, where historically Democratic regions flipping red helped Trump clinch victory in 2016.

On Thursday, Eric Trump made a surprise stop to Oakmont Bakery, which has been selling Trump- and Biden-themed cookies. Earlier this month, Lara Trump energized volunteers in McCandless and eight other places in the region via a “Women for Trump” bus tour.

Joe Biden’s supporters have been doing the same.

Jill Biden, his wife, held a virtual meeting this week with local Italian Americans and former Democrat presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont will be in Pittsburgh on Saturday to campaign for the Biden-Harris ticket.

“It’s not so much the event but the coverage after the fact that nets the benefit,” said Tim Vercellotti, political science professor and director of the Polling Institute at Western New England University. “It has sort of a multiplier effect. These can be very efficient ways of getting free media in a campaign.

“There’s a little psychological boost as well. Voters think, ‘All right, we’re in the game, we’re part of this, we’re important. There’s also a sense of importance when you’ve got a candidate or relatives of the candidates showing up. It’s sort of an affirmation that your vote really counts.”

The Biden campaign has taken a starkly different approach and prioritized many virtual and small-scale, invite-only events in response to the threat of the covid-19 pandemic, as well as amped up efforts to reach voters by phone calls, texts and socially distanced gatherings.

Though Democratic voters may appreciate the attention paid to public health, by scaling back on surrogate visits, the Biden campaign also could be “missing opportunities,” Vercellotti said.

“President Trump, Vice President Trump, members of Trump’s family and surrogates have been criss-crossing the country communicating the message about what his administration has done over the last four years,” said former Congressman Keith Rothfus, who stumped for Trump while hosting a presidential debate watch party Thursday night in Pittsburgh. “Contrast that with Biden hiding in the basement, and very few appearances by Kamala Harris.”

Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair Nancy Patton Mills balked at the notion that Biden has an enthusiasm problem.

“We have been very, very pleased with all of the turnout at every event that we have had,” Mills said Friday morning during a virtual news conference prior to Pence’s rally. “The most important thing for Democrats in Pennsylvania is to make sure the health and safety of all voters and all participants is at the forefront. … Everywhere the president goes, he spreads the virus.”

State. Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, said that “the enthusiasm is there. … And people are exercising that enthusiasm.”

”They may not be going to these superspreader rally events where they’re walking petri dishes,” Costa said. “They’re actually going to put their mail-in ballots in place and voting … and dropping them off at satellite offices and drop boxes. That’s how they’re demonstrating their enthusiasm.”

More recently, Biden volunteers have been door-to-door canvassing (with masks and other precautions), something that Trump volunteers started doing aggressively several months ago.

In the past three to four presidential elections, “research shows that personal contact on the doorstep is the most effective way to mobilize people,” Vercellotti said. “Phone calls, texts, they’ll have some benefit, but it’s that in-person contact that has the biggest payoff. And yet in this climate, that’s very hard to do. It’s also unclear how well-received a campaign volunteer is during a pandemic.

“It’s actually a great natural experiment right now; it’s something that scholars of political campaigns could take a look at in retrospect and say, ‘You know, this in-person campaigning, even if on a very modest scale, drive-ins and things like that, it may make the difference.’ “

In an in-person event planned for this weekend, a Biden caravan of about 200 participants is slated to make its way through the Alle-Kiski Valley, including Harrison, Brackenridge and Tarentum.

Among local elected officials present at the Pence rally — all three of whom Pence introduced and endorsed: U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, who introduced Pence; U.S. Rep. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-Centre County; and U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters Township.

Pence also touted support for Sean Parnell, the GOP challenger to U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon. (Lamb won over voters who supported Trump in 2016 to ascend to Congress, and both Parnell and Lamb are campaigning as “moderates.”)

“The president and I need Pennsylvania to send G.T. Thompson, Mike Kelly, Guy Reschenthaler and Sean Parnell to a new Republican majority in the House of Representatives and retire Nancy Pelosi once and for all,” Pence said.