Tim Kaine is campaigning in red states just to 'mess with' Donald Trump

Idaho and Wyoming are not going to vote for Hillary Clinton this November; the states are about as red as they come. But that is not deterring Clinton's campaign from making a stop there in the form of vice presidential contender Tim Kaine.

But why put in the time? Why not send Kaine to a battleground state instead? Because Clinton wants to make Donald Trump nervous. Very nervous.

"There is no way that, even in a landslide, Idaho and Wyoming turn blue. [But] going to Idaho and Wyoming in the summer is not a bad idea to get fundraisers out of the way and mess with the Trump operation," Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray told Politico. "I could see this as a combination of, 'Why not go to Wyoming in the summer? It's where the rich people are [on vacation], you can do some fundraising there,' and a head fake against the Trump campaign, which doesn't seem to have an Electoral College strategy. So you could get them to spend resources in a place where they shouldn't."

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Kaine has already visited North Carolina, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri this week, and will be stopping in Sun Valley, Idaho, and Jackson, Wyoming, on Thursday. By Tuesday, Kaine will be in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Nashville, Tennessee.

Trump, meanwhile, has requested ad rates in Georgia, Arizona, Indiana, and Missouri, and hired operatives in South Carolina — all states which, in a normal election, would not need to be part of a Republican's defensive strategy.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.