Trump Campaign:
Reap the whirlwind
By W. James Antle III
President Trump’s reelection campaign is hoping that a whirlwind travel schedule will help turn the tide of a presidential race that has looked like it is Democrat Joe Biden’s to lose since March.
The most optimistic people in Trump’s orbit are betting that their more crowded public events are a sign they will once again defy the polls, even though the numbers are more dire than they were four years ago.
Like their president, the reasoning goes, Trump voters are undeterred by the pandemic. Just as they are showing up at his rallies in greater numbers and his campaign is knocking on more doors in some battleground states, they will beat expectations by turning out to vote in person on Election Day, even if Democrats are already banking a substantial early vote by that time.
While this view is not unanimously held, Trump’s 2016 upset victory has given supporters confidence, and Democrats nagging doubts, in spite of poll numbers that heavily favor Biden. Trump is also better positioned in many of the key battleground states than he is nationally, though the public polling shows him with ground to make up there as well.
Trump’s children, Vice President Mike Pence, and the president himself will appear at rallies. While Republican operatives are worried about Trump’s tendency to go off message in rambling speeches, the hope is that just as he recovered from the coronavirus quickly enough to return to the campaign trail, he can also recover electorally in record time.
Biden Campaign:
A little help from his friends
by Emily Larsen
Joe Biden is getting a celebrity boost in the final push for his campaign.
Singer and actress Cher is heading to Nevada and Arizona over the weekend to campaign on behalf of the former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee.
Singer Lizzo, of the hit song “Truth Hurts,” heads to Detroit, Michigan — a key state where the Biden campaign is hoping to boost voter turnout among black Americans who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 but not Hillary Clinton in 2016.
For her 56th birthday last week, Biden running mate California Sen. Kamala Harris held a virtual fundraiser that featured actors from The Avengers films.
But the biggest star coming out for Biden may be the former president. Barack Obama made his first campaign trail debut for Biden last week in Philadelphia, where he held a roundtable discussion and a drive-in rally. Over the weekend, he heads to Miami, Florida.
Obama is enormously popular among Democrats and voters as a whole — more popular than Biden. A Morning Consult poll conducted before this year’s Democratic National Convention found that 58% of all voters, including 91% of Democrats, had favorable views of Obama, while Biden had 46% favorability from all voters and 84% favorability from Democrats.
Biden’s top task, though, may be to try to energize voters while continuing to avoid more questions about his stance on expanding the Supreme Court and on damaging emails purportedly coming from his son Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Biden himself heads to Pennsylvania’s Bucks County and Luzerne County on Saturday.
House:
Rose’s thorns
By David Mark
Voters in New York’s 11th Congressional District could be forgiven for thinking Rep. Max Rose is seeking reelection against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a fellow Democrat.
Rose is actually running in the Staten Island and southern Brooklyn-based district against Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis. But in the city’s most conservative enclave, Rose, elected to the House in 2018, is trying to distance himself from far-Left figures such as Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That’s made de Blasio an easier foil amid the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing shutdown of businesses and schools in New York City.
“Bill de Blasio is the worst mayor in the history of New York City. That’s the whole ad,” a short-sleeved-clad Rose said in a September digital spot.
That’s in character for Rose, who fancies himself a populist political street brawler, touting to voters his U.S. Army service as a platoon leader in Afghanistan, where he was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Yet Rose can hold his own in Washington with many well-educated peers, after college at Wesleyan University and earning a master’s degree from the London School of Economics.
Malliotakis, 39, has been a member of the New York Assembly since 2011. And unlike Rose, 33, she’s actually run for mayor against de Blasio — though it didn’t go well. In 2017, as the Republican nominee, Malliotakis lost to de Blasio, 66%–28%, as he won a second term.
The 11th District has a distinct Republican lean, as President Trump in 2016 beat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton there 54%-44%. But the House seat has flipped back-and-forth between the parties over the past dozen years, due to redistricting, retirements, scandals, and resignations.
