Trump warns of ‘Biden depression’

 Former president Barack Obama was scheduled to hold his first rally in support of US election front runner Joe Biden, while Donald Trump campaigned frantically and accused his opponent, who stayed home in Delaware, of going "into hiding." 

Less than two weeks before the polls, the contrast in campaign strategies between Trump, 74, and Biden, 77, has never been more pronounced: the Republican president led another rally in the battleground state of Pennsylvania Tuesday, while Democrat Biden stayed mostly out of sight ahead of a pivotal televised debate later in the week.

At an airport rally in Erie in the northwest corner of the state, Trump said Pennsylvania could put him over the top in the Nov. 3 election and warned that Biden would decimate the state's energy and manufacturing jobs.

He said he needed a second term in the White House to ensure a successful recovery from the novel coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout.

"This is an election between the Trump super recovery, which is happening right now, and a Biden depression," Trump told cheering supporters, who as at most of his rallies were packed shoulder to shoulder, with many not wearing masks.

"If you want open schools, an open economy and a safe, healthy, thriving country, vote for me," he said.

Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 people in the United States and thrown millions out of work, has taken a toll on his re-election prospects.

Biden has criticized Trump for failing to confront the pandemic and rushing to reopen the economy and belittling safety measures such as social distancing and wearing masks. Opinion polls show more Americans trust Biden than Trump to lead on the health crisis.

With two weeks left in the race, more than 35 million Americans already have cast early ballots, according to the University of Florida's US Elections Project. That represents more than a quarter of the total vote in the 2016 presidential contest. Early voting returns show registered Democrats outpacing Republicans in most states that track party affiliation.

Three more states began early in-person voting on Tuesday - Wisconsin, Utah and Hawaii.

National opinion polls show Biden holding a wide lead over Trump, although the contest is closer in the swing states that will decide the election, including Pennsylvania, Florida and North Carolina.

Trump has gained ground on Biden in Pennsylvania, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday, which showed the challenger leading by 49% to 45%, slightly narrower than a week earlier.

"If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing," Trump said in Erie.

Pennsylvania is one of the half-dozen states that Trump more or less has to win to amass enough electoral college votes to hold on to the presidency.

First lady Melania Trump, who was diagnosed recently with Covid-19 and had planned to travel with the president, did not make the trip out of "an abundance of caution" because of a lingering cough, her spokeswoman said.

Obama will campaign for Biden at a drive-in car rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's biggest city, to urge supporters to vote early as the campaign hits the final stretch. It will be Obama's first in-person campaign event for Biden, who served with him for eight years.

Firebrand Senator Bernie Sanders, who is hugely popular with the Democrats' left wing, will go on campaigning for Biden on Saturday.

The visit to Pennsylvania also comes ahead of today's second and final debate between Trump and Biden, which will give the Republican president a prime-time opportunity to change the trajectory of the race.

To try and impose some sense of order after a chaotic first clash in September, the moderator will this time switch off each candidate's microphone when their opponent is speaking, thereby trying to thwart interruptions.

At the debate Biden is sure to go after Trump for his record on the pandemic. A New York Times report Tuesday was likely to give Biden additional ammunition, revealing how Trump spent years cultivating business projects in China and even maintains a previously unknown bank account in the country.

As for Trump, he has made clear his priority is to pursue his claim that Biden's son Hunter sold access to his father in Ukraine and China when he was vice president under Obama.

Trump upped his offensive Tuesday by calling on US Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate his "criminal" opponent "before 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 is the first president to run for reelection after being impeached.

However, he won in 2016 in part thanks to the success of a last-minute push to sow doubt about Clinton's honesty.

He is dusting off that playbook again. Crowds at Trump's rallies have even repurposed the old anti-Clinton chant for Biden, shouting "lock him up."

According to a new poll from The New York Times/Siena College, Biden has 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.

New polls on Tuesday showed Biden maintaining his lead over Trump in Michigan, while the two were in a dead heat in North Carolina, two other critical swing states that could make the difference in the race.