Why is Kari Lake in New Hampshire when she's running for US Senate in Arizona?

Lately, it seems as if Kari Lake is everywhere.

There she is, walking into a meeting hall and the crowd goes crazy.

There she is, striding down the street and young mothers push their babies into her arms.

There she is, seemingly everywhere. … Everywhere, that is, but in Arizona.

And talking to everybody. ... Everybody, that is, but the voters she will need to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Kari Lake lives in a MAGA bubble

As a winning campaign strategy, it’s straight up bonkers.

“She’s certainly not doing the work to appeal to swing voters,” Tyler Montague, a longtime Republican strategist in Arizona, told me.

“I don’t know who she’s listening to. I’ve talked to a few people in her universe that just throw their hands up and say she’s unreachable, just committed to this path. She surrounds herself so much with people who cheer for her that she’s just stuck in a bubble.”

So, I guess the whole court-the-moderates thing is done.

Contrary to whatever conspiracy plot Lake wants to sell to the MAGA Nation, Lake didn’t lose the 2022 governor’s race because the election was fixed.

She lost because she went out of her way to insult McCain moderates and generally alienate anyone who doesn’t march in lock step with Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again crowd.

Her outreach to moderates is clearly over

For a brief period last fall, it looked like she was going to take the advice of national Republicans and seasoned Arizona campaign strategists as she mounted a charm offensive to woo moderates.

But traditional Republicans she reached out to tell me she was more offensive than charming, refusing even to acknowledge the insults she’d heaped upon them much less apologize for her transgressions.

Now she’s snapped back to full-on, all-out preaching to the MAGA choir in places like Londonderry and Laconia and Rochester.

If you can’t picture those fine towns, it’s because they’re not in Arizona. They’re 2,500 miles away in snowbound New Hampshire, where Lake is all MAGA all the time as she delivers her Trump stump.

“2024 is the year we save Western Civilization by putting President Donald Trump back in the Oval Office!” she gushed on Tuesday.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m guessing most moderate voters don’t think western civilization is at stake in this election.

Still, it’s a great strategy if you're vying for a spot in Trump’s Cabinet (VEEP apparently being off the table).

Where are those Arizona endorsements?

But as a strategy to win a crucial Senate seat in Arizona?

“I don’t get it either,” longtime Republican strategist Chuck Coughlin said. “It’s the same thing with Trump coming out here having a rally. It doesn’t help. It doesn’t add to the universe of voters that are Trump voters. It’s yelling into the echo chamber.

“What she’s doing outside of the state is a complete waste of time.”

Yes, but Lake is getting what she calls “huge” endorsements from people like MAGA Sens. Roger Marshall of Kansas and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and former Trump aide David Bossie, who lives not in Maryvale but in Maryland.

After court ruling: Lake is in even deeper trouble

Where are the endorsements from Arizonans like former Republican Govs. Doug Ducey and Jan Brewer? From Karrin Taylor Robson, the McCain Republican she trashed during last year’s governor’s race?

Where is the nod from Kathy Petsas, a longtime grassroots activist trashed by Lake in 2022 and approached by Lake in 2023? Petsas is just the sort of moderate Republican that Lake must have, if she is to win.

Lake ignores the voters she needs to win

As for Lake’s message, it’s probably best if moderate voters aren’t tuned in.

“I’m proud to have the endorsement of President Trump. I’m proud to be the most MAGA candidate running for Senate in the country,” she told a host on RSBN, one of many MAGA cheerleader outlets that is listened to by precisely none of the voters that Lake needs to woo.

This, as she campaigns in far-off states where precisely none of the voters will see a ballot with her name on it.

Kari Lake may be the pride of the Hawkeye State and the darling du jour of the Granite State, but last I looked she’s running for the Senate in the Grand Canyon State.

Hey Kari, we’re o … v … e ... r h … e … r … e.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake visits New Hampshire ... to run for US Senate in Arizona?