Focus on battleground states as presidential race tightens
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both campaigned in North Carolina Thursday as they swept through battleground states in the final days before Election Day.
"Nov. 8th you gotta get out to vote. Nov. 8th," Trump said as he campaigned in Florida and North Carolina, two battleground states he almost certainly must win if he wants to take the White House.
"The FBI is investigating how Hillary Clinton put the office of Secretary of State up for sale in violation of federal law," Trump said.
The latest RealClearPolitics average of polls shows an exact tie in North Carolina. That and some ten other battleground states (Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada) will likely decide who reaches the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
"Imagine having a president who demeans women, mocks the disabled, insults Latinos, African-Americans," said Clinton.
Clinton spoke in Raleigh, North Carolina as her campaign reached out to African American voters whose early voting turnout is not as large as expected. Clinton later visited Nevada and Arizona.
Both candidates have all hands on deck.
Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine campaigned in Phoenix, giving his speech entirely in Spanish.
President Obama spoke in Florida and blasted Trump.
"You don't see him hanging out with working people unless they are cleaning his room or mowing fairways of his gold club. You gonna make this guy your champion if you are a working person? Come on," President Obama said.
Trump is scheduled to visit eleven states through the weekend to rally supporters. Trump's wife Melania made a rare campaign appearance, announcing in Pennsylvania that she'd fight cyberbullying if Trump is elected.
"We need to teach our youth American values. Kindness, honesty, respect, compassion," Melania Trump told the crowd.
Trump's running mate Mike Pence campaigned with Ted Cruz, although Cruz never mentioned Trump's name.
"At this point it's voter mobilization, get your people out to vote, whether it's through mail-in ballots or at the polls," said James Taylor, a political science professor at University of San Francisco, which held a panel discussion Thursday with two USF Deans John Trasvina and Elizabeth Davis, and the San Francisco Republican Party Chairman Jason Clark.
Professor Tayor said both presidential campaigns are turning negative as the race tightens in these final days, but he says that isn't likely to impact the election as much as which side is better at getting out the vote.
"I don't know if another shoe will drop. I think at this point anything else that happens will be interpreted by the electorate as just politics," Taylor said.
Clinton plans to make her final case in Philadelphia Monday with her husband and daughter, joined by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in New Hampshire. The RNC has announced it plans to dispatch 100,000 volunteers with the goal of knocking on 4 million doors before Election Day.
Both Trump and Clinton plan to be in New York City on election day.