All they had to do was look at the 2010 gubernatorial election map of Wisconsin

The Future of the Obama Coalition. (The New York Times, 11/27/2011)

Manitowoc, Sheboygan, and Fond du Lac counties.

Not to mention reddening Racine and Kenosha.

Excerpt: All pretense of trying to win a majority of the white working class has been effectively jettisoned in favor of cementing a center-left coalition made up, on the one hand, of voters who have gotten ahead on the basis of educational attainment — professors, artists, designers, editors, human resources managers, lawyers, librarians, social workers, teachers and therapists — and a second, substantial constituency of lower-income voters who are disproportionately African-American and Hispanic. [Emphasis added.]