DETROIT Elizabeth Warren took her presidential campaign to the Midwest this week, starting with two stops in Michigan where she unveiled a $2 trillion green manufacturing proposal . The choice of locale had little to do with states Democratic primary, which comes well into the cycle on March 10, and everything to do with symbolism.

Michigan is among the politically critical states Donald Trump won narrowly in 2016. This was Warrens way of saying that she can win there by seizing one of his signature issues: bringing factory jobs back to the U.S.

The Massachusetts senator has been doing a lot of that lately. She rolled out her opioid plan in West Virginia and Ohio , two states ravaged by the epidemic, and introduced a plan to protect public lands during a swing through Colorado and Utah . When it was time to sketch out a scheme to increase affordable housing , Warren toured low-income neighborhoods in Alabama , Mississippi and Tennessee .

These trips have organizing value, especially because of Warrens now-famous selfie lines , where she offers a photo to anybody willing to wait. (Just think of all the images bouncing around on social media pages.) But its the attention these trips generate for her policies, not the pictures, that best explains why Warren has been gaining ground .