Trump officials are zeroing in on New Mexico, Nevada and New Hampshire, where they insist there’s an opening despite heavy losses Republicans suffered there in the midterms. They’ve deployed around a half-dozen staffers to New Hampshire and several to Nevada, an unusually early investment in places that favor Democrats. And the campaign is doing polling to tease out Trump’s level of support in New Mexico, a focal point for campaign manager Brad Parscale, and they have discussed dispatching aides to the blue state.

The maneuvering underscores how Trump is trying to capitalize on his vast financial and organizational advantage over Democrats. Yet it also illustrates how the president, whose own polling shows him falling behind in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, is seeking out additional routes to a second term…

Trump aides acknowledge they start at a disadvantage in each of the three states, which total 15 electoral votes. (By comparison, Pennsylvania has 20 electoral votes, Michigan has 16 and Wisconsin 10.) But there are good reasons for the early investments, they say: Trump lost Nevada and New Hampshire narrowly in 2016, and all three states are small and relatively easy to organize in.