WASHINGTON – The Latest on the presidential campaign (all times local):
8 p.m.
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Joe Biden is letting loose against President Donald Trump in the final days of the presidential campaign.
At a drive-in rally in Detroit on Saturday night, Biden made fun of Trump for everything from his hairdo to his cozy relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin to Trump’s description of himself as a “perfect physical specimen.”
Biden noted the president “likes to portray himself as a tough guy,” but noted Trump was laughed at by United Nations leaders. “Tough guy, my — my word,” Biden said, pausing just short of finishing the quip with a vulgar word.
Noting Trump has called himself a “perfect physical specimen,” Biden, a devout Catholic, jokingly made the sign of the cross.
And referencing a New York Times report that Trump took $70,000 in tax deductions for hair care, Biden quipped, “I hardly have any hair, but I’ll tell you what man, I’d rather have what I have!”
While the Democratic presidential candidate often takes jabs at Trump, on Saturday night, campaigning alongside former President Barack Obama — who also roundly mocked Trump — Biden seemed to be having more fun than usual with his attacks.
7:40 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he’s issued a memorandum that calls on government agencies to determine fracking’s impact on the economy and trade and the costs of banning the oil and gas extraction through fracking.
The president has repeatedly charged that Biden will end fracking — a big industry in Pennsylvania and other states — even as the former vice president has said that he does not support such a ban.
Biden’s more liberal Democratic primary opponents, including his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, have said they supported imposing restrictions on the industry.
“In other words, if one of these maniacs come along and they say we’re gonna end fracking we’re gonna destroy the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Trump said in announcing his memorandum at rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “You can say ‘sorry about that.’”
Trump told the crowd he signed the memorandum while on Marine One after landing in Butler.
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6:00 p.m.
Stevie Wonder is back in his home state of Michigan to get out the vote for Joe Biden.s
“The only way we’re gonna win this fight, a fight against injustice, is by voting,” he told a crowd gathered at a drive-in rally in Detroit Saturday. “We must vote justice in and injustice out.”
Wonder, who is from Saginaw, Michigan, also joked about President Donald Trump’s debate-stage comments telling the far-right group the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” “You know what we say in the ghetto when somebody says that, right?” he asked the crowd, adding, “watch yourself, get your ass whipped.”
Wonder is warming up the crowd before Biden and former President Barack Obama are slated to speak. He’s a frequent performer at Democratic political events, and campaigned for both Obama in 2008 and 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Wonder called the Nov. 3 election “the most important one in my lifetime.”
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3:30 p.m.
Joe Biden and Barack Obama are thanking a group of young canvassers in Michigan and encouraging them to stay involved in politics after the election.
The Democrats made a surprise stop Saturday at a canvass kickoff in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, as they drove from a campaign event in Flint to a later one in Detroit. About three dozen volunteers, most of them young people, had gathered in socially distanced lines in a church parking lot, ready to pick up canvassing materials.
The former president and vice president thanked the group for their work. Obama told the volunteers that “change is possible, but it’s not guaranteed.”
Biden told the crowd their work makes a difference in an election where they are “literally fighting for our democracy.” He suggested the young volunteers run for office.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE:
With three days to go until Election Day, Democrat Joe Biden is campaigning in Michigan and President Donald Trump plans four events in Pennsylvania.
Read more:
— After year of disruption, America set to choose a path ahead
— ‘Obamacare’ sign-ups begin as millions more are uninsured
— AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s voting wrongs; Biden’s trade miss
— Road to 270: Biden has options, Trump walks narrow path
— Biden looks to restore, expand Obama administration policies
— Expect a lot more of the same if Trump wins a second term
— Show your work: AP plans to explain vote calling to public
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON:
1:50 p.m.
Barack Obama blasted President Donald Trump as egotistical and incompetent during a campaign event in Flint, Michigan.
The former president spoke Saturday at a drive-in rally at his first joint campaign event with Joe Biden. Obama told the crowd that Trump “cares about feeding his ego” while Biden “cares about keeping you and your families safe.”
Wearing a black windbreaker but no mask, the former president spoke for Biden’s character in personal terms. He called the former vice president “my brother” and declared: “I love Joe Biden, and he will be a great president.”
Obama said the president is “jealous of COVID’s media coverage” and joked about Trump being obsessed with crowd size.
Obama also dinged Trump on his masculinity, declaring that being a man once meant “taking care of other people,” not “strutting and showing off, acting important, bullying people.”
Obama won the state of Michigan twice before Trump won it in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes, and he encouraged the crowd to vote, warning them not to be “complacent.”
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1:10 p.m.
Melania Trump is defending the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and criticizing Democrat Joe Biden for his dire warnings about the crisis.
The first lady says in prepared remarks to a crowd in Wisconsin that the Trump administration has “worked tirelessly” on behalf of Americans during the crisis. She’s accusing congressional Democrats of being obstacles to further virus aid.
Like the president, Melania Trump is going after Biden for saying the United States is headed for a “dark winter” due to the pandemic.
The first lady says “that is not the statement of a leader.” She says Biden wants to make people hide in fear in their basements rather than “work bravely” to find solutions.
She says the president is is focused on destroying the virus and creating ways for people to safely gather with friends again.
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12:30 p.m.
Joe Biden is hitting the campaign trail with his old boss for the first time with a pair of events in Michigan.
Former President Barack Obama will join Biden Saturday for drive-in rallies in Flint and Detroit. While Obama has been active on the trail for Biden in recent weeks, this will mark their first day of joint campaigning.
Michigan remains a top target for Biden as he seeks to rebuild the “blue wall” of Rust Belt states, including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, that went for Obama previously but delivered President Donald Trump a win in 2016.
Hillary Clinton was criticized for not paying enough attention to Wisconsin and Michigan in 2016, and Biden has said he learned from her mistake. He’s campaigned in Michigan multiple times prior to Saturday, and he stopped in Wisconsin Friday night. He will campaign in Pennsylvania on Sunday and Monday.
Trump is also heaping attention on the state, with a visit to Michigan on Friday and two more planned for Sunday and Monday.
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12:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump says the nation is at a crossroads as Election Day approaches.
He spoke Saturday near the Pennsylvania site where George Washington had his headquarters before he crossed the Delaware River. Trump said this election has the potential to be a similarly momentous event.
In three days, the president said, “this is the state that will save the American dream.” He predicted victory in Pennsylvania.
Trump, who narrowly won Pennsylvania in 2016, is holding four events across the state Saturday as he aims to keep it in his column. Without the state, his path to 270 electoral votes grows much more challenging.
Trump narrowly lost Bucks County in the Philadelphia exurbs in 2016. He hopes to at least keep down Democrat Joe Biden’s margins in that part of the state while running up the score in more rural areas.
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11:50 a.m.
Barack Obama plans to campaign in Georgia on Monday in an election-eve push to shift the traditionally Republican into the Democratic column.
Obama will be in Atlanta for a rally to boost Joe Biden and the two leading Democratic Senate candidates in the state. Jon Ossoff is challenging GOP Sen. David Perdue, and fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock is running in a special election against Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Georgia hasn’t voted for a Democrat in a presidential race since 1992. But the Biden campaign is looking to capitalize on the favorable political environment in the state as the coronavirus pandemic drags down President Donald Trump in typically GOP-leaning states.
Biden was in Georgia this past week and his running mate, Kamala Harris, campaigned there the week before.
But Republicans are working to defend their hold on the state, and Trump is set to campaign in Georgia on Sunday.
Obama also is set to visit Florida on Monday, in what will be his second visit to the state in a week. Democrats believe that if they can deny the president a win in Florida, it will help counter any possible efforts by Trump and others to raise doubts about the legitimacy of the election.