Pres Trump will make a yuge push in final days of the midterm campaign. His rally sched is more aggressive than other previous Pres on first midterm election. They bought into the expectation of losing ground so stayed in WH to look 'presidential'. Pres Trump says never give up. And he leads by example.
Unfortunately, the rest of the GOP is not doing well at selling the positives in the Trump Admin's two year record. So it falls on POTUS to carry the ball forward for them. Different dynamic than often is the case in a President's first midterms. But other presidential campaigns in past did have aggressive scheds for closing days.
Here is one example. Bill Clinton in 1992. Much younger man. Pres election, not midterm.
Quote
Winging around the country in 30 hours of ceaseless campaigning, Mr. Clinton made a final, grueling effort to generate a high turnout at the polls with a 4,106-mile trip, from the East Coast to western Texas. For this last push, he chose to touch down for brief airport appearances in nine states, ending at home in Arkansas on Tuesday morning.
unQuote.
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/03/us/1992-campaign-democrats-clinton-bush-sprint-race-for-white-house-ends.html
That Clinton example covered only 30 hours – less than 3 full days – on the campaign trail barnstorming through 9 states. Different approach from POTUS this coming week whose sched covers 8 states but 11 rallies within 6 days (144 hours).
In 1994, during his first midterm as Pres, Clinton "campaigned" overseas, pruning to appear presidential, on deals with NK and in Middle East. He was very unpop back home so his first task was to improve his profile by appearing where he was more popular at that time. He did it in expectation of Dems losing ground in Congress and Senate. They did lose bigly. Landslide defeat. Don't think the same is in the offing for Pres Trump this midterm, but rather the opposite – gaining ground.
Interesting comparison. I'll check my old files and noodles for comparisons with Pres Reagan's first midterm election campaign. He had the GOP apparatus behind him at that time, though.