Trump flies to Pennsylvania, Biden sits back
US President Donald Trump campaigned frantically and frontrunning challenger Joe Biden stayed mostly out of sight Tuesday ahead of a pivotal televised debate with only two weeks until Election Day.
The contrast in campaign strategies between Trump, 74, and Biden, 77, hasn't been more pronounced: the Republican president left for another rally in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, while the Democrat played it cool at his home in Delaware - though he'll deploy his former boss, Barack Obama, to Philadelphia for a rally on Wednesday.
Polls show Biden ahead and with the clock running down, he appears confident.
Regardless, few could ever out-campaign Trump, who has rediscovered his old energy with daily, sometimes twice-daily rallies around the united states since dealing with Covid-19 just over yesterday.
His latest rally was in Erie, a former Democratic stronghold that he won in 2016, symbolizing his successful capture of the white, working class vote that had always been loyal left and which Biden has been trying to claw back.
Trump’s message with 2 weeks to go has boiled down to a variety of optimism, telling Americans that the pandemic is practically over, and a lot more extreme attempts to tar Biden as corrupt - even saying Tuesday that he wants the legal professional general to open an investigation prior to the election.
But, underlining how hard it is for him to flee the subject of the Covid-19 crisis, Trump’s wife Melania canceled plans to accompany him to Pennsylvania at the last second, complaining of ongoing discomfort following her own bout with the virus.
This was to have been her first appearance alongside Trump at a rally in greater than a year, possibly boosting his dire standing among women voters.
The trip was canceled because of a “lingering cough” following her infection, a spokeswoman said, raising questions about how exactly well the first lady has really recovered.
- Slinging dirt -
After a difficult couple of weeks for his reelection hopes, compounded by three nights in hospital with the coronavirus, Trump believes he's storming in to the final stretch with new momentum - whether or not published polls show little sign to aid this theory.
“Things are changing fast,” Trump told the Fox & Friends program, claiming that his own polling showed Biden is “imploding.”
Both candidates will get something of possible check on Thursday if they meet because of their second and final televised debate.
To try and impose some sense of order after a chaotic first clash in September, the moderator will this time around turn off the microphone of the prospect not designed to be speaking, thereby trying to thwart interruptions.
In what could be viewed as foreshadowing, Trump’s microphone cut out briefly at his Erie rally Tuesday. When it returned on, he blamed “Crooked Hillary” for the interruption.
At the debate Biden is sure to follow Trump for his record on the pandemic, which includes killed around 220,000 Americans and, regardless of the president’s frequent claims, is surging back rather than going away.
For Trump, he has made clear his priority is to pursue his murky declare that Biden’s son Hunter sold usage of his father in Ukraine and China when he was vice president under Barack Obama.
Trump upped his offensive Tuesday by contacting US Attorney General Bill Barr to research his “criminal” opponent “prior to the election.”
And he told Fox News that the accusation has sent Biden “into hiding.”
Trump is the subject of multiple allegations of sexual assault, corruption, and also may be the first president to perform for reelection after being impeached.
However, he won in 2016 partly thanks to the success of a last minute push to sow doubt about the honesty of his opponent Hillary Clinton.
He's dusting off that playbook again. Crowds at Trump’s rallies have even repurposed the old anti-Clinton chant for Biden, shouting “lock him up.”
“The truth is whether you prefer it or not… Joe Biden is a corrupt politician,” Trump told supporters at the rally in Erie on Tuesday.
- Pennsylvania push -
According to a fresh poll from THE BRAND NEW York Times/Siena College, Biden includes a nine-point lead nationally.
Although this reflects the consensus of polls, there are outliers, including IBD/TIPP, which accurately predicted the 2016 shock result and sees a much tighter race now, with Biden only 2.3 points ahead.
Pennsylvania is probably the half-dozen states that Trump more or less must win to amass enough electoral school votes to hold to the presidency. Polls show Biden ahead there, though a Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed the gap narrowing slightly.
Reflecting the state’s importance, the Biden team said that Obama would campaign in Pennsylvania on Wednesday at a “drive-in car rally” in Philadelphia where he will inspire early voting.
Firebrand Senator Bernie Sanders, who's hugely favored by the Democrats’ left wing, will continue Saturday.
A key component in this year’s campaign is early voting, which reaches record high levels amid fears over the spread of the virus. So far, some 34 million Americans have already cast ballots, based on the independent US Elections Project.
