Obama Will Campaign for Biden in Florida: Campaign Update
Biden Microtargets Hispanic Voters With New Ads: Campaign Update
(Bloomberg) -- Former President Barack Obama will campaign in Florida for Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Saturday and next week. Obama held his first in-person rally for Democratic nominee Joe Biden. And the Department of Homeland Security launched a website to combat foreign efforts to disrupt the election.
There are 13 days until the election and 54 days until the Electoral College meets.
Other Developments:
Obama Will Campaign for Biden in Florida
Obama will campaign for Biden in Miami on Saturday and Orlando next week, according to people familiar with his travel plans.
The trips to Florida follow his first in-person campaign appearance on Wednesday in Philadelphia. He hosted a conversation with Black men followed by a drive-in rally outside Lincoln Financial Field.
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Obama, who remains one of the Democratic Party’s most popular figures, assailed Trump’s leadership in his speech.
“Donald Trump isn’t going to protect us,” Obama said. “He can barely take the basic steps to protect himself.
Obama Asks Voters to Make Election a Repudiation of Trump (7:30 p.m.)
Obama hit the campaign trail on Wednesday with a plea to voters to make the November election a repudiation of Trump and his administration.
“We will not only elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we will also leave no doubt about what this country that we love stands for,” Obama said at a drive-in rally in Philadelphia on his first day of in-person campaigning for Biden, his former vice president. “We will not leave any doubt about who we are as a people and the values and ideals that we embrace.”
The Biden campaign is using Obama in the final days before Election Day to help get out the vote, especially among younger people and people of color. On Wednesday, his speech was full of tweaks and jabs at his successor, Trump, particularly his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We literally left this White House a pandemic playbook,” Obama said. “They probably used it to, I don’t know, prop up a wobbly table somewhere.”
Mentioning a New York Times article this week that asserted Trump had a bank account in China, Obama asked: “Can you imagine if I had a secret Chinese bank account when I was running for re-election? You think Fox News would’ve been a little concerned about that? They would’ve called me ‘Beijing Barry,’” -- Jennifer Epstein
Homeland Security Launches Website to Combat Election Disinformation (6:57 p.m.)
The Department of Homeland security is ramping up efforts to combat foreign interference in the Nov. 3 election with a new website that debunks disinformation.
The initiative, rolled out Tuesday by DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, outlines common rumors relating to pre-election, Election Day and post-election processes, and provides the factual information.
In one example, CISA cited a false claim that malicious actors can easily affect elections by printing and sending in mail-in ballots, noting that local election offices have sophisticated security measures to detect malicious activity.
The “Rumor Control” website is the latest effort by the U.S. intelligence community to fight rampant misleading information by foreign adversaries looking to undermine American voters’ confidence in the election. In September, the FBI released a movie to alert Americans of foreign spy threats.
“We’re now in the final stretch of the election and tens of millions of voters have already cast their votes free from foreign interference,” CISA Director Christopher Krebs said in a statement, adding that “the days and weeks just before and after Election Day is the perfect time for our adversaries to launch efforts intended to undermine your confidence in the integrity of the electoral process.” -- Jackie Davalos
Trump, Biden Are Tied in Republican Stronghold Texas, Poll Shows (5:16 p.m.)
A poll released Wednesday shows a tie between Trump and Biden in Texas, suggesting the possibility that the historically Republican state could be in play for the first time since 1976.
Trump and Biden each had 47% in the Quinnipiac University poll. The race has tightened from a month ago when the poll found Trump leading the former vice president 50% to 45%.
Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide since 1994 and hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Voter enthusiasm in the state is high this year. More than 5.3 million voters have already cast their ballots, according to the U.S. Elections Project, which is more than the 4.68 million votes Trump received in Texas in 2016.
The poll was conducted Oct. 16-19 and has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. -- Emma Kinery
Levi’s Ad Warns of Voter Suppression on Election Day (2:20 p.m.)
A Levi’s get-out-the-vote ad promoted before the presidential primaries stuck to the standard themes: Pickup trucks, polling booths and lots of people in jeans casting ballots.
But an ad being promoted now on social media takes a much different tack, warning that Americans will face voter suppression at the polls.
“On November 3, 2020, voter suppression will be present,” model Hailey Bieber, actor Jaden Smith and others say in turns. “Vote anyway. You will be discouraged. Vote anyway. Tuesday will be imperfect. Vote anyway.”
The ad links to a section of the Levi’s website where viewers can check their voter registration, learn about voting requirements in their state and buy voting-themed T-shirts and sweatshirts.
As with other corporate get-out-the-vote efforts, the ad does not take sides, but its messaging is similar to the efforts by voting rights groups to keep people from being discouraged by long lines or concerns about vote-by-mail. -- Ryan Teague Beckwith
Republicans Criticize Biden’s Chartered Amtrak Train (12:49 p.m.)
Republican lawmakers want to make sure that Amtrak didn’t give any special breaks to “Mr. Amtrak” after the Biden campaign booked a September train trip to western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.
The lawmakers questioned whether the Democratic nominee received any special treatment or interfered with regular passenger and freight operations. “We are concerned that the apparent use of a struggling, resource-deprived, publicly run service for political gain does not serve the best interests of Amtrak or the American taxpayers at this time,” the lawmakers wrote, saying they wanted to make sure the campaign “paid a full, non-discounted rate.”
Biden’s September filing with the Federal Election Commission included a $265,000 charge for “train lease” and his campaign brushed off the criticism. “Anyone can charter a train with Amtrak,” said Biden spokesman Matt Hill. “Last time we checked, no one can charter the White House South Lawn for a political convention.”
Amtrak’s website says charter trains start at $30,000 in the busy Northeast Corridor.
Amtrak defended the decision to charter a train for the Biden campaign, saying in a statement “operation of charter trains is an important revenue source.” The company pointed out that the rate paid by the Biden campaign “aligns with our standard practice and market rates that anyone seeking this service would be charged. There were no discounts or scheduling preferences.”
Biden frequently cites the thousands of trips he made on Amtrak to be home with his kids as a young senator, earning him the nicknames “Amtrak Joe” and “Mr. Amtrak.” House and Senate Republican lawmakers have also chartered Amtrak trains to travel to their annual caucus retreat.
The letter was signed by Arkansas Republican Representative Rick Crawford, Ohio Republican Representative Bob Gibbs and Pennsylvania Republican Representatives Scott Perry and Lloyd Smucker. -- Keith Laing
Biden and Trump Are Neck and Neck in Iowa (11:23 a.m.)
The presidential race is tightening in Iowa, according to a new Monmouth University poll that shows Trump and Biden neck and neck.
In a survey of registered voters in Iowa, 48% backed Trump and 47% Biden, within the margin of error. Monmouth’s September poll showed Trump winning by a margin of 6 percentage points 50% to 44%.
Biden’s share is buoyed by an increase in support among seniors. Trump still leads Biden among voters age 18 to 49, 50% to 44%, and voters age 50 to 64, 51% to 45%. However, Biden has gained ground among voters over the age of 65, leading Trump 54% to 43%, up from 50% to 46% a month ago.
Republican Senator Joni Ernst and Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield remain deadlocked, unchanged from a month ago. Among registered voters Ernst and Greenfield are both at 47% support, the same as its September poll.
The poll of 501 registered voters in Iowa was conducted Oct. 15-19 and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points. -- Emma Kinery
Long Lines as Early Voting Begins in Wisconsin (10:15 a.m.)
While attention has been focused on vote-by-mail, early voting has also seen a surge this year, including in the battleground state of Wisconsin on Tuesday.
On the first day of early voting, which runs through Nov. 1, high turnout was seen in bigger urban areas like Milwaukee and Madison.
Long lines have also been seen on the first day of early voting in Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Texas and Virginia, with voters saying that they are concerned that mail-in ballots will be rejected and that there will be long lines on Election Day.
In 2016, 17% of ballots were cast through in-person early voting, compared to nearly 24% cast in vote-by-mail, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Both are spiking this year, with nearly 39 million ballots cast already. That’s almost as many as the 46 million early and mail-in votes cast by Election Day in 2016, with two weeks of voting still left to go. -- Ryan Teague Beckwith
AOC Seeks to Get Out the Vote Via Video Game (7:37 a.m.)
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew hundreds of thousands of viewers online to watch her play a video game as part of a get-out-the-vote effort.
The New York Democrat went on Twitch Tuesday night to play Among Us, a sci-fi murder mystery game in the mold of “Clue,” where players try to determine who is an impostor.
The live video stream of her game peaked at 435,000 viewers, according to The Verge, making it one of the biggest streams ever. But Ocasio-Cortez’s viewership fell below the record of 600,000 who tuned in to watch the rapper Drake play Fortnite.
She was joined by Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, her teenage daughter Isra, and several big Twitch streamers. Omar’s profile image on the site is a piece of fan art showing her as a pilot in the popular Gundam anime franchise.
Biden’s Ads Target Key Latino Groups (7:01 a.m.)
The Biden campaign will run three Spanish language ads as it seeks to boost his polling with Latino populations.
One ad, called “Abandonados,” features a Florida priest arguing that Trump “abandoned Puerto Ricans” after Hurricane Maria. It will run in Florida and Philadelphia, the mainland city with the second-largest Puerto Rican population.
A second ad airing in Florida, “Son Muy Similares,” features a refugee living in Florida who compares Trump’s behavior in office, which she calls authoritarian, to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
A third ad, “Pasar la Pagina,” contrasts images of white nationalist rallies and Trump standing with law enforcement officers holding shields with Biden talking to Latinos, saying it’s time to turn the page. It will air in battleground states with significant Hispanic populations, including Florida, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina.
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found Latino voters preferred Biden by 34 points, but his numbers have lagged Hillary Clinton’s share of the Latino vote in 2016.
Trump’s Spanish-Language Ad Features Salsa Music
President Donald Trump, meantime, has his own Spanish-language ad, and it makes its case in song.
In the ad, called “Por Trump,” Cuban-American salsa band Los 3 de La Habana play an upbeat song with lyrics about how you should vote for the president because of the good life, the economy and your family.
Unlike Biden’s more targeted ads, the Trump spot features snippets of different Hispanic groups: salsa dancing, the Miami waterfront, families eating rice and beans and playing soccer, aerial footage of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Arizona, people waving Puerto Rican flags and a Mexican Independence Day parade in Chicago.
“Our latest ad captures the richness and beauty of America’s diverse Hispanic cultures,” said Trump campaign spokesman Giancarlo Sopo.
The campaign said it would air in “key markets” across the U.S.
Coming Up:
Trump and Biden will meet for the second and final debate starting at 9 p.m. on Thursday at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
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