Voice of America - US Politics

2020 Election Puts Focus on Twitter, Facebook Content Moderation

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 17:33:02 GMT

The nation’s top technology leaders urged U.S. lawmakers Wednesday to keep content moderation protections in place, despite growing calls from Republicans to address perceived bias in the way social media companies handle free speech online.

Online companies are shielded from liability for content on their sites under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Those protections apply to companies of all sizes operating online that use third-party content. But some Republicans contend Section 230 is a “carve-out” for larger companies such as Facebook and Twitter, allowing them to censor content based on political viewpoints and use their considerable reach to influence public discourse.

U.S. President Donald Trump called for an end to Section 230 in a Tweet Wednesday, saying “The USA doesn’t have Freedom of the Press, we have Suppression of the Story, or just plain Fake News. So much has been learned in the last two weeks about how corrupt our Media is, and now Big Tech, maybe even worse. Repeal Section 230!”

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at MotorSports Management Company, in West Salem, Wis., Oct. 27, 2020.

At issue is whether or not a company that moderates content is a publisher instead of a platform and if the reach of companies such Facebook, Google and Twitter constitutes a monopoly.

“Companies are actively blocking and throttling the distribution of content on their own platforms and are using protections under Section 230 to do it. Is it any surprise that voices on the right are complaining about hypocrisy, or even worse?” Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker said Wednesday.

Section 230 has received renewed attention during the 2020 presidential election cycle due to online companies’ new approaches to content moderation in response to foreign interference on online platforms during the 2016 elections cycle.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pushed back against that in prepared testimony Wednesday, saying, “We should remember that Section 230 has enabled new companies—small ones seeded with an idea—to build and compete with established companies globally. Eroding the foundation of Section 230 could collapse how we communicate on the Internet, leaving only a small number of giant and well-funded technology companies.”

Dorsey told lawmakers one possible approach that is “within reach” would allow users to choose between Twitter’s own algorithm that determines what content is viewable, and algorithms developed by third parties.

Wicker said his staff had collected “dozens and dozens” of examples of conservative content that he says has been censored and suppressed over the past four years by Twitter. He alleged the social media company had allowed Chinese Communist propaganda about COVID-19 to remain up for two months while President Donald Trump’s claims about mail-in ballots were immediately taken down.

Earlier this month, Twitter blocked users from sharing a link to a news story on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Twitter also locked the accounts of President Trump and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for sharing the story, citing its policies for how hacked materials are shared on its website. Based on these actions, Republican Senator Ted Cruz accused Twitter of attempting to influence U.S. elections.

“Your position is that that you can sit in Silicon Valley and demand of the media that you can tell them what stories they can publish; you can tell the American people what reporting they can hear,” Cruz said to Dorsey Wednesday.

The Twitter CEO has apologized for the decision, tweeting, “Straight blocking of URLs was wrong, and we updated our policy and enforcement to fix. Our goal is to attempt to add context, and now we have capabilities to do that.”

Facebook also restricted sharing of the Hunter Biden story, saying it would first need a third-party fact check.

The social media company had allowed Russian disinformation to flood the site during the 2016 election, but Facebook instituted new policies this election cycle. According to its website, Facebook’s response includes the removal of 6.5 billion fake accounts in 2019, adding third-party factcheckers to go over content posted on the site as well as removing 30 networks engaged in coordinated, inauthentic behavior.

“Without Section 230, platforms could potentially be held liable for everything people say. Platforms would likely censor more content to avoid legal risk and would be less likely to invest in technologies that enable people to express themselves in new ways,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told lawmakers Wednesday.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears on a screen as he speaks remotely during a hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill, Oct. 28, 2020, in Washington.

Congressional Democrats expressed concern about the growth of extremist groups online as well as continuing attempts at foreign election interference on social media platforms, questioning the timing of the hearing.

“I am appalled that my Republican colleagues are holding this hearing literally days before an election, when they seem to want to bully and browbeat the platforms here to try to tilt toward President Trump’s favor. The timing seems inexplicable except to game the referee,” said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. “President Trump has broken all the norms. And he has put on your platforms, potentially dangerous and lethal misinformation and disinformation.”

In an earlier line of questioning, Dorsey told lawmakers Twitter does not maintain lists of accounts to watch, but bases content moderation based on algorithms and service user requests.

Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer at Google, also stated the company’s commitment toward independence, telling lawmakers, “We approach our work without political bias, full stop. To do otherwise would be contrary to both our business interests and our mission, which compels us to make information accessible to every type of person, no matter where they live or what they believe.”

71 Million Americans Have Already Voted

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 16:56:06 GMT

Americans are voting early for next Tuesday’s presidential election in unprecedented numbers, a product of strong feelings for or against the two main candidates and a desire to avoid large crowds at Election Day polling stations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 71 million people have already voted six days ahead of the official election day, totaling more than half of the overall 2016 vote count, which was 138.8 million.

FILE - Returned ballots are shown at elections management center at the Salt Lake County Government Center Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Salt Lake City.

About two-thirds of the early voters have mailed in their ballots, and the rest voted in person at polling places throughout the country.

Voting experts say voter turnout for the contest between Republican President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden could be the highest since 1908, when 65% of the country’s eligible voters cast ballots.

President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at Eppley Airfield, Oct. 27, 2020, in Omaha, Neb.

Trump, Biden and their respective running mates — Vice President Mike Pence and California Senator Kamala Harris — are continuing to make their closing arguments to voters on Wednesday.

Focus on Arizona

Both Trump and Harris are campaigning in Arizona, the southwestern state along the Mexican border that Trump won in 2016 against Democrat Hillary Clinton en route to a four-year term in the White House.

But polls in the state, where no Democratic presidential candidate has won since 1996, now show Biden narrowly ahead.

The state has 11 of the 270 electoral votes that either Trump or Biden will need to claim the presidency and be inaugurated on January 20. U.S. presidential elections are decided in an indirect form of democracy in the 538-member Electoral College, not the national popular vote.

Typically, all of a state’s Electoral College votes go to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in each of the 50 states, with the most populous states holding the most sway.

Trump is holding two afternoon rallies in Arizona, in Bullhead City and Goodyear.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks at a campaign event, Oct. 27, 2020, in Las Vegas.

Harris is meeting with Latina business owners in the morning in Tucson and later in the day with a group of Black leaders in the state’s biggest city, Phoenix. She is finishing her day with a speech at a rally where pop singer Alicia Keys is performing.

Biden briefed on virus

Biden, who has cast blame on Trump for the country’s world-leading coronavirus death toll of more than 226,000, is being briefed by public health experts on the pandemic and then delivering remarks on his plans to curb the spread of the virus. Later, he is attending a virtual campaign fund-raising event.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the coronavirus and health care at The Queen theater, Oct. 28, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.

Trump this week has continued to assert the country has “rounded the corner” in dealing with the virus, even as the number of U.S. infections is surging.

Pence is holding rallies in two key Midwest states, Wisconsin and then Michigan, that Trump captured in 2016 but where he now trails Biden.

Vice President Miek Pence speaks to hundreds of supporters during a rally at an airplane hangar on Oct. 27, 2020, in Greenville, S.C.

National polls typically show Biden with a 7- or 8-percentage point lead over Trump, but with about half that margin in key battleground states that are likely to determine the outcome in the Electoral College.

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US to Open Embassy in Maldives Amid Geopolitics Competition with China

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 12:11:43 GMT

The United States is opening an embassy in the Maldives to strengthen economic and security cooperation five decades after the two nations established diplomatic ties.

The move reflects “the continued growth of the U.S.-Maldives relationship and underscoring the United States’ unshakeable commitment to Maldives and the Indo-Pacific region,” said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement Wednesday after his meetings in the Maldives with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo walks to board an aircraft to leave for Maldives, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Oct. 28, 2020.

The latest move is seen as part of Washington’s push for a free and open Indo-Pacific to curb Beijing’s influence in the region.

The United States does not have a consulate or embassy in Maldives currently but operates an American Center in Malé. The U.S. ambassador and embassy staff in Sri Lanka are accredited to Maldives and make regular visits to the island archipelago.

FILE - A construction worker looks on as the China-funded Sinamale bridge is seen in Male, Maldives, Sept. 18, 2018.

Pompeo’s travel to the South Asian nation comes after the U.S. and Maldives signed a defense agreement on September 10 to “deepen engagement and cooperation” in the peace and security of the Indian Ocean, according to the State Department. India, historically skeptical of foreign military presence close to its borders, has blessed the deal, U.S. officials say.

In recent years, U.S. naval vessels have regularly conducted port calls at Maldives. The nation of islands has provided support to U.S. efforts to combat terrorism and terrorist financing.

The U.S. has provided $2 million in assistance to Maldives for COVID-19 recovery during the pandemic. Washington has also pledged millions in economic support aimed at strengthening Maldives’ fiscal transparency, maritime security, and counterterrorism.

The U.S. established diplomatic relations with Maldives in 1966 following its independence from Britain.

After Maldives, Pompeo heads to Jakarta, Indonesia, where he will underscore religious freedom and human rights in the world’s most populous Muslim majority nation, according to U.S. officials.

The secretary of state has told reporters that it is in the best interest of Southeast Asian nations to protect “their maritime rights” and the ability to conduct business, ensuring “that their sovereignty is protected against” threats from the Chinese Communist Party.

Beijing has built strong economic and diplomatic ties with Jakarta. China was the second largest source of foreign direct investment in Indonesia in the first half of this year.

Southeast Asia is the region most impacted by China’s territorial claims and militarization of disputed land features in South China Sea.

Six Asian governments—Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam — have territorial claims or maritime boundaries in the South China Sea that overlap with China’s claim.

While Indonesia is not seen as a party to the South China Sea disputes, it has on multiple occasions detected Chinese fishing or coast guard ships in Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone off the Natuna Islands in the South China Sea.

More Than 3M in Pennsylvania Apply for Mail-in Ballots

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 12:06:02 GMT

A week ahead of the Nov. 3 election, applications in the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania for mail-in or absentee ballots exceeded 3 million, with Tuesday the last day to request one and legal wrangling creating uncertainty over the deadline to receive them.

State data shows that, of those applications, about 1.9 million, or more than 62%, have been returned to counties.

More than 9 million Pennsylvanians have registered to vote, a record high. If turnout is 70%, which was the rate in 2016's presidential election in Pennsylvania, that means 6.3 million people will vote.

The majority of people, 1.9 million, applying for mail-in or absentee ballots are Democrats, according to state data. About 760,000 are Republicans and 350,000 are registered independents or third-party voters.

Abby Leafe, a registered Democrat who lives in suburban Philadelphia's Bucks County, checked her mailbox Tuesday in vain for her mail-in ballot.

"I am desperately, desperately waiting for my ballot to arrive," said Leafe, a 46-year-old market researcher from Newtown, one of the millions of suburban moms that both parties hope to reach this year.

Leafe hopes to vote by mail, but will go to the polls if need be.

"Making sure we have free and fair elections is worth getting COVID for," she said.

The crush of mail-in votes is a record, more than 10 times the amount received by counties in 2016's presidential election when President Donald Trump edged out Democrat Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, helping him win the White House.

This year, Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democrat, are locked in a battle to win Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes, with Trump warning that the only way he can lose Pennsylvania is if Democrats cheat. Democrats counter that Trump is mounting a massive voter intimidation and suppression campaign in Pennsylvania.

Counties have staffed up and bought new high-speed sorting equipment to process the ballots as they prepare to hold an election with fast-rising coronavirus numbers, new voting machines and the U.S. Supreme Court potentially deciding the return deadline for mail-in ballots.

In that lawsuit, Luzerne County on Tuesday asked Justice Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from consideration of the state Republican Party's request that the U.S. Supreme Court block counties from counting mailed-in ballots received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election.

The filing by Luzerne County came shortly after Barrett was formally sworn in as the Supreme Court's ninth justice.

The justices last week divided 4-4 on the GOP's request to put a hold on the deadline extension, which left it in place while justices decide whether to consider the underlying case. There is no timeline for them to vote on whether to take the case, which seeks to return the deadline to the one in state law, which is when polls close on Election Day.

The state Supreme Court ruled in September that county election officials must count mailed-in ballots that arrive up until Nov. 6, even if they don't have a clear postmark, as long as there is no proof it was mailed after the polls closed.

Meanwhile, Gov. Tom Wolf's administration pushed back on Trump's claims in his three rallies on Monday in Pennsylvania.

Trump claimed that Wolf's administration tried to prevent him from holding rallies, but the administration said it had had no contact with the campaign about its rallies Monday. Trump's campaign presumably deals with property owners and local governments, Wolf's office said.

Trump also complained, falsely, during a rally in Allentown the day before and on Twitter overnight that Philadelphia is blocking his campaign from having observers at polls.

"We can't have poll watchers, the judge said," Trump told rally goers. "They fought us on that, they didn't want people watching them count."

Trump's campaign has not been blocked from having poll watchers.

Rather, Trump's campaign sued Philadelphia's elections board to force it to allow campaign representatives to monitor satellite election offices, where people can register to vote, apply for a mail-in ballot, fill it out and return it.

A Philadelphia judge and a statewide appellate court judge both reached the same conclusion, that Pennsylvania law does not allow such monitoring of those activities.

Wolf's top election official, Kathy Boockvar, suggested Trump is spreading disinformation and said every county will appoint poll watchers before Election Day.

"Philadelphia and every other county in the state can have poll watchers," Boockvar said at a news conference Tuesday. "That hasn't changed. His tweets, again, voters need to ignore the disinformation. There's so much disinformation out there, people should not retweet, should not repost, this information is inaccurate. Pennsylvania has very clear laws."

How do Media Organizations Report Election Results in Real Time?

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 00:57:24 GMT

As Americans prepare to go to polling stations on Election Day this Nov. 3, U.S. news organizations are preparing to report the count which will determine the winners of more than 7,000 races, including the White House, House and Senate seats, state offices, and local legislative positions.

In the United States, news organizations observe the vote count in real time and use a variety of information to determine when they can declare a winner in each race, including overall vote totals, exit polling of voters, and the estimated number of votes still uncounted in each precinct.

Here's how it works and what news organizations do to help ensure they do not make a mistake.

Who announces winners in U.S. elections?

State election officials are the ones who certify the vote count, but long before every ballot has been counted, the American news media use a variety of data sources and tools to project the winners. Using a collection of raw vote totals, statistical techniques, and projections, the news organizations, which have been covering American presidential elections continuously since 1848, have had an excellent – but not perfect – record of calling race winners.

How do news organizations count the vote returns on election night?

Votes are tabulated county by county by the Associated Press, a non-profit news agency which uses its national network of more than 4,000 reporters on election night to record the vote tallies from county clerks and other local officials. The AP also gathers information from state websites that post election returns. Reporters feed that information back to AP's vote counting operation, where analysts make decisions about which races are ready to be called.

Workers with the Philadelphia City Commissioners office sort election materials for the 2020 General Election in the United States at the city's mail-in ballot sorting and counting center, in Philadelphia, Oct. 26, 2020.

Who does the counting?

Local election workers collect the ballot tallies in each precinct. How and when the ballots are counted is determined by local and state laws. For example, some states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin require that no ballots be counted until Election Day, even if they arrived at election offices weeks earlier. Once the votes from a precinct are counted, election workers pass the information to county and state officials, who then make the tallies available to reporters and the public.

What do reporters do with the local tallies?

AP reporters across the country phone the results to data entry people in specially set up election centers where they are entered into an electronic system. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the election centers are virtual in 2020. All vote counts are subject to a series of checks and verifications, including computer programs that set off alerts if there are inconsistencies with the vote count because of previous voting history or other data.

Who decides the winners?

At the AP, a team of race callers on the Decision Desk determines when they have enough information to declare a winner. The team is looking at more than just the overall vote total, taking into account the incoming vote as well as how many ballots are left to count and where those uncounted votes were cast.

This election, the AP is not using exit polling data conducted by the National Election Pool as it has done in years past. This data is collected by pollsters who ask voters questions as they are leaving their polling places. AP says that it does not believe such data is effective when large numbers of people vote early.

Other news media, including the major TV networks — ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC — continue to be a part of the National Election Pool and will have access to the exit polling data to help make election projections. The networks also use specially set up election desks to make calls on election night.

This means that different media organizations may declare winners in elections at different times, using their own models and data.

A voter drops off her absentee ballot during early voting at the Park Slope Armory YMCA, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Oct. 27, 2020.

How do they count ballots since so many people are voting early?

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many more Americans are voting early this year and many of those votes are being cast by mail. Mail ballots usually take longer to count than those cast in person. Election officials must open the ballots, make sure a voter is registered, and oftentimes verify their signature.

Because of this, the AP is predicting, "extended vote counts" in more states than previous years, which could drag on for days or weeks. The AP developed its own survey in 2018 designed specifically to account for the rise in votes cast before Election Day. The survey, called AP VoteCast, captures the opinion of those who voted early as well as those who voted on Election Day and will help the AP to factor in the early vote when calling races.

How accurate is the media at announcing results?

The media have largely been accurate in calling election winners. However, their credibility was hugely damaged during the 2000 presidential race when most news outlets prematurely called the race for Al Gore around 8 p.m. on Election Day, then called it again for George W. Bush after 2 a.m. the following morning, then rescinded all calls as an automatic recount of the votes began in Florida.

The AP has been counting votes for over 120 years and says that in 2016 it was 99.8% accurate in calling all U.S. races and 100% accurate in calling the presidential and congressional races for each state. AP declared Donald Trump the winner in 2016 at 2:29 a.m. on Wednesday, November 9.

US Senate Races Tighten Ahead of Election

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:22:28 GMT

With days left until the U.S. election, Democrats are in a position to win a handful of Senate races that could give them control of the chamber in 2021. No matter who wins the White House, party control of the Senate will be a key factor determining how much work gets done in Washington for the next two years.

Republicans currently have a 53-47 Senate majority. If Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden wins the presidency, Democrats would need a net pickup of just three Senate seats to assume the majority. If U.S. President Donald Trump is elected to a second term, Democrats would need to gain four Senate seats to have a working majority.

According to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, seven of the 35 U.S. Senate seats up for reelection November 3 are races that are too close to call. All seven of those seats are currently Republican-held. Additionally, in this cycle Republicans are defending nearly twice as many seats as Democrats, making it more challenging for Republicans to maintain their numbers.

Of the 12 Democrat-held U.S. Senate seats up for reelection, only one is rated by Cook Political Report as leaning Republican – the Alabama race between Senator Doug Jones and his Trump-endorsed Republican challenger Tommy Tuberville. The former football coach has been leading Jones in the polls by double digits since the summer.

Casey Burgat, director of the Legislative Affairs program at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, said polling data showing a shift in Democrats’ favor reflect how many races have been nationalized by Trump’s presence at the top of the ticket.

“If we think of elections as referendums on those incumbents, Republicans are in a really tight spot right now, led by President Trump,” he said. “Candidates are having to work in their seats to distance themselves, to show a streak of independence to say that ‘I'm just not a vote for an unpopular president.’ States where just four years ago he was incredibly popular - being that he brought in some senators to the Senate based on his election tally. So quite a shift in a few short years.”

Here’s where a handful of key races stand:

Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) walks on Capitol Hill, February 3, 2020, in Washington.

Iowa

Earlier this year, the central state of Iowa looked to be one of the states holding strong for Republicans. But while Trump carried the state by 9 percentage points in 2016, his trade wars have had an impact on its heavily agricultural economy.

Incumbent Republican Senator Joni Ernst supported Trump’s policies and government payments to farmers to supplement the lost income. She has either trailed or tied her Democratic challenger, real estate developer Theresa Greenfield, in almost all polls throughout the year.

Iowa farmer Doug Thompson, a Greenfield supporter, said Ernst’s political fortunes are tied to the president.

“Her success or failure is going to be based on Trump's success or failure in Iowa,” Thompson told VOA. “Agriculture has been devastated even though we've been paid off [received federal aid]. There's still a lot of stress out here - a lot of stress on balance sheets.”

Ernst stumbled in a recent debate answering a question about commodities prices, but farmer and Iowa State Senator Dan Zumbach said she understands agriculture in Iowa.

“President Trump will get our trade settled down so that we can get better prices long term. Joni Ernst is genuine, honest and knowledgeable, and she works hard for our agriculture because she understands it - it's where her roots are.”

North Carolina

Early October was a tumultuous time for both candidates in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races: North Carolina. Considered a bellwether for American politics because its demographic makeup reflects a diverse range of areas, ages and ethnicities, North Carolina is fiercely fought over in the presidential election and features a marquee contest between incumbent Republican Senator Thom Tillis and his Democratic challenger, former state senator Cal Cunningham.

FILE - Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) talks to reporters prior to the resumption of the Senate impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, January 30, 2020.

Earlier this month, Tillis was diagnosed with COVID-19 as a part of the outbreak of cases that impacted the White House and the U.S. Congress. While Tillis has since quarantined and recovered, the virus kept him from the campaign trail. At the same time, his opponent was facing questions about revelations he had been texting a woman who was not his wife. Cunningham ended up admitting to an intimate encounter earlier in the summer and apologized publicly to his family. According to a Real Clear Politics average of polls, Cunningham appears not to have been significantly damaged by those events. He leads Tillis by an average of 1.8 percentage points in political surveys.

FILE - Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham speaks to supporters during a primary election night party in Raleigh, N.C., March 3, 2020.

Maine

Facing a tough reelection race, Senator Susan Collins crossed the aisle Monday to vote against the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. Collins made it clear she was not voting against Barrett based on her qualifications but on timing.

“I do not think it is fair nor consistent to have a Senate confirmation vote prior to the election,” Collins said in a statement Monday.

FILE - Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) talks to reporters before attending the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, January 28, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Making decisions in the national spotlight is a familiar role for Collins, who cast a key vote earlier this year in the Senate impeachment trial of Trump. Her opponent, Democratic challenger Sara Gideon, raised funds on the basis of Collins’ vote confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, another decision that led some Maine voters to question whether Collins had maintained her reputation as an independent voice in the U.S. Senate.

“Her vote for Brett Kavanaugh was kind of that breaking point, or at least one of the flashpoints in saying we like when you're independent, but only so far as when you are agreeing with what we do as a state,” said Burgat. “She's been kind of fighting back against that narrative ever since.”

Gideon, a Maine state representative, leads Collins by an average of 4.2 percentage points in a Real Clear Politics average of polls conducted in September and October prior to the Supreme Court vote.

South Carolina

The home state of one of Trump’s strongest Senate defenders is a relatively late entry into the list of close races. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is leading his Democratic challenger, former South Carolina Democratic party chairman Jaime Harrison by 6 percentage points in the latest New York Times/Siena poll conducted the week of October 9. But a Quinnipiac University poll has shown the two candidates in a tie in multiple polls since July.

FILE - Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison speaks at a campaign rally on Oct. 17, 2020, in North Charleston, S.C.

Money is keeping this race competitive. Graham notably complained about Harrison’s fundraising abilities in the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Barrett last week. Harrison, the former South Carolina Democratic party chairman, has broken the record for the largest three-month fundraising effort ever in a Senate race – a record $57 million.

“His fundraising numbers have been astronomical, but a lot of that money has been coming from outside the state where voters are looking to him as an opportunity for a Democratic pickup,” said Burgat. “So they are funneling money into that race, for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that Lindsey Graham has become kind of the face of Trump-enabling, Trump-supporting and going along with the Trump agenda.”

Harrison has been careful not to focus his campaign on criticism of Trump – part of a balancing act intended to appeal to voters in a state that went for the president over Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by 14 percentage points in 2016.

Toss-ups

Other toss-up races include both Georgia Senate races. Polls show Republican incumbent U.S. Senator David Perdue leading Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff by 1.5 percentage points. In an open race for Georgia’s other Senate seat, a Democratic political newcomer, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, leads a crowded field by an average of 8.5 percentage points. The Montana Senate race shows encouraging signs for Republican incumbent Senator Steve Daines, who leads his Democratic challenger, Steve Bullock, by 3.3 percentage points.

Kane Farabaugh contributed to this report.

With US Election a Week Away, Trump and Biden Campaign in Contested States

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 17:48:16 GMT

With one week until Election Day, Republican U.S. President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, headed Tuesday to political battleground states in a frantic push to shore up critical support to win a four-year term in the White House.

Their travel plans reflect the state of the race, with polls showing Biden ahead of Trump by seven to nine percentage points nationally and about half that in contested states that are likely to determine the overall outcome.

On Tuesday, Trump is on defense, headed to three midwestern states he won in his upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 -- Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska – and likely needs to capture again to win a second term.

But polls show him trailing in Michigan and Wisconsin and, while he is ahead statewide in reliably Republican Nebraska, he trails in the race to win a single elector in an Omaha-based congressional district that could play a role in deciding next week’s national winner.

Meanwhile, the seemingly confident Biden is on offense, headed to two stops in the southern state of Georgia, which has not backed a Democrat for president since 1992. Pollsters show Biden and Trump locked in a tossup to win the state’s 16 Electoral College votes.

Typically, all of a state’s Electoral College votes go to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in that state. Both Trump and Biden are looking to piece together state-by-state victories to get to a majority of 270 in the 538-member Electoral College, where the most populous states hold the most sway.

Trump lost the national popular vote four years ago and is likely to again this time, but he retains a chance to win the presidency a second time in the Electoral College if he can claim wins in key battleground states he is visiting in the final days of the contentious campaign.

Four years ago, Trump narrowly won three northern states – Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – that traditionally have voted for Democrats. He likely needs to capture at least Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, along with holding other key states he won in 2016, in order to remain the U.S. leader.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives to speak with supporters outside a voter service center, in Chester, Pennsylvania, Oct. 26, 2020.

Forecasts show Biden has numerous paths to 270 votes in the Electoral College, including recapturing Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin while holding on to all the states Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Currently, polls show Biden ahead of Trump in all the states she captured, making Trump’s climb to winning even steeper.

Later in the week, Biden is headed to another state Trump won last time -- the Midwest farm state of Iowa. Biden’s vice-presidential running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, is visiting two more 2016 Trump states -- Arizona, where polling shows Biden narrowly pulling ahead, and populous Texas with 38 electors, where Trump is maintaining a slight advantage.

But the former vice president is also mindful of Clinton’s downfall at the end of the 2016 campaign when she shunned a last-minute stop in Wisconsin. Biden is visiting there later in the week, as well as Michigan and the pivotal southeastern state of Florida, Trump’s adopted home state where he maintains a mansion along the Atlantic coastline.

On Tuesday, Trump, fresh from presiding over Monday night’s White House swearing-in ceremony for newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is heading to a rally in the Michigan capital of Lansing and a stop in the small city of West Salem, Wisconsin, before leaving for the visit to Omaha, Nebraska’s biggest city.

At large outdoor rallies, Trump has contended that he successfully helped build the American economy before it was decimated this year by the onslaught of the coronavirus, and that he can restore the economy again.

Trump has several times this week said the national news media continue to report extensively on the devastation the pandemic has wrought on the U.S., which has recorded a world-leading 225,000 deaths and 8.7 million infections, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In all caps, Trump tweeted, “ALL THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IS COVID, COVID, COVID. ON NOVEMBER 4th, YOU WON’T BE HEARING SO MUCH ABOUT IT ANYMORE. WE ARE ROUNDING THE TURN!!!”

ALL THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IS COVID, COVID, COVID. ON NOVEMBER 4th, YOU WON’T BE HEARING SO MUCH ABOUT IT ANYMORE. WE ARE ROUNDING THE TURN!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2020

But Biden has regularly assailed Trump’s handling of the virus, saying in a statement that the moment “required presidential leadership – and when we needed it, President Trump panicked. He froze. And today, eight months into this crisis, he still has no plan to get the virus under control, no interest in listening to the scientists, and no ability to lead our country through this moment.”

More than 66 million Americans have already cast early ballots, two-thirds of them by mail and one-third in person at polling stations. Many voters say they are looking to avoid coming face-to-face with others in the expected long lines of people waiting to cast ballots next Tuesday.

Amy Coney Barrett Formally Sworn In as US Supreme Court Justice

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 17:17:05 GMT

Amy Coney Barrett was formally sworn in Tuesday as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath to the former federal appellate judge, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 52-48 vote late Monday.

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine joined the entire Democratic caucus voting against Barrett's confirmation. Collins said she would not vote for Barrett’s confirmation because of the proximity of the vote to next week’s presidential election.

According to the Associated Press, no other Supreme Court justice has been confirmed on a recorded vote with no support from the minority party in at least 150 years.

Barrett is the third justice on the nine-member court to be nominated by President Donald Trump and significantly tips its ideological balance toward a 6-3 conservative majority.

“It's a privilege to be asked to serve my country in this office, and I stand here tonight truly honored and humbled,” Barrett said Monday. “Thanks also to the Senate for giving its consent to my appointment. I am grateful for the confidence you have expressed in me, and I pledge to you and to the American people that I will discharge my duties to the very best of my ability.”

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett poses with first lady Melania Trump, President Donald Trump and her husband Jesse Barrett on the balcony of the White House after taking her oath of office Oct. 26, 2020.

Democratic opposition

Democrats argued that the decision of picking a nominee for the seat should have been left up to whichever candidate wins the presidential election, a stance Republicans held when there was an election-year vacancy in early 2016. Republicans then refused to consider Democratic President Barack Obama’s nomination of another appellate judge, Merrick Garland.

“The rushed and unprecedented confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court, in the middle of an ongoing election, should be a stark reminder to every American that your vote matters,” Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden said in a statement Monday.

Trump praised Barrett on Monday as “one of our nation’s most brilliant legal scholars,” and said she will “make an outstanding justice on the highest court in our land.”

Barrett could potentially consider election disputes involving Trump, although it is unclear whether she might recuse herself since Trump named her to the court. She declined to say at her confirmation hearings whether she will avoid hearing disputes over extended deadlines for voters to return mail-in ballots and other issues Republicans and Democrats are contesting.

Upcoming Supreme Court cases

Barrett is set to be among the justices hearing a new challenge November 10 on whether to invalidate the country’s Affordable Care Act, which Trump has sought to overturn.

The law, popularly known as Obamacare after the former president who championed its passage in 2010, is a measure that helps provide health care to millions of Americans. Its fate is a crucial concern for many people amid the surging number of new coronavirus cases in the United States. According to recent figures from the Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has more than 8.7 million confirmed cases and 225,730 deaths.

Republicans have long argued that Obamacare costs taxpayers too much and gives government too much control over health care. The Republican-led Congress in 2017 eliminated the law’s mandate requiring that people buy health insurance if they could afford to do so. They now want the Supreme Court to invalidate the entire statute, saying that without that key insurance provision, the rest of the legislation is invalid.

South Africans Watch US Election With Interest, Trepidation

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 16:34:32 GMT

South Africa, Africa’s most mature democracy, is watching the American election with great interest — and trepidation.

Residents of the country, for the most part, say four years of U.S.-Africa relations under President Donald Trump have done nothing for their lives. VOA spoke to analysts and citizens in Johannesburg, the economic hub of the continent, about what matters to them as America votes.

VOA has, during the past four years, spoken to hundreds of South Africans of all backgrounds about U.S. politics and found few who openly support Trump. Most pin their disapproval on reports that he made disparaging comments about African nations.

On the streets of Johannesburg, entrepreneur Katyala Maine says he’s pulling for former Vice President Joe Biden. Here’s what he thinks of the current president:

“He wants to make America great again, but America needs the rest of the world in order for it to be great. The fact that he believes that disinvestment or lesser aid to African countries is warranted, well, that's his opinion,” Maine said.

Others, like technical support worker Itumeleng Mofokeng, say they pine for the past, and try to ignore the deluge of news.

“Personally, I'm still all for [former President] Barack Obama. I wish America could do the right thing and bring back Barack Obama. I'm not feeling … who's our new president? Donald Trump? Personally, no, he's not my favorite,” Mofokeng said.

American diplomat-turned-journalist Brooks Spector, who has lived in South Africa since the 1970s, says South Africans’ fascination with the U.S. is understandable.

“It's a kind of mirror image of their own society with a lot of the same prickly bits and wounds, but phrased or framed in a different kind of way so that they see — and Americans see this too, obviously — race relations in the United States is a topic of surpassing importance to the American society, history politics life, religion - the whole thing,” Spector said.

The most important policy aspect, he said, is the African Growth and Opportunities Act, which expires in 2025. The act allowed South Africa to export $8.55 billion dollars' worth of goods, duty free, to the U.S. in 2018.

But some South Africans, like photographer Ezra Qua-Enoo, say they are indifferent to the world’s largest economy.

“Donald Trump and his policy on Africa? I actually don’t know what his policy on Africa is. But, like, I actually don't care for what's happening in America at all, to be honest,” Qua-Enoo said.

Africa has not come up often on the campaign trail, but Trump’s periodic tweets about the continent — from his concerns about killings of white farmers in South Africa to more recent comments about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam — have sparked criticisms from African leaders.

Biden has also seldom brought up the continent but counts former Obama-era policy experts on his campaign team — a sign he may seek to restore the previous administration’s Africa policy.

This election may be unfolding on the other side of the world, South Africans say, but the result could affect their lives too — and they are watching.

Judge: US Can't Replace Trump in Columnist's Slander Suit

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 16:24:27 GMT

A federal judge on Tuesday denied President Donald Trump's request that the United States replace him as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit alleging he raped a woman in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan came after the Justice Department argued that the United States — and by extension the American people — should replace Trump as the defendant in a lawsuit filed by the columnist E. Jean Carroll.

The government's lawyers contended that the United States could step in as the defendant because Trump was forced to respond to her lawsuit to prove he was physically and mentally fit for the job.

The judge ruled that a law protecting federal employees from being sued individually for things they do within the scope of their employment didn't apply to a president.

"The President of the United States is not an employee of the Government within the meaning of the relevant statutes," Kaplan wrote. "Even if he were such an employee, President Trump’s allegedly defamatory statements concerning Ms. Carroll would not have been within the scope of his employment. Accordingly, the motion to substitute the United States in place of President Trump is denied."

Lawyers for Carroll had written that "only in a world gone mad could it somehow be presidential, not personal, for Trump to slander a woman who he sexually assaulted."

The Justice Department relied solely on written arguments in the dispute after its lawyer was banned from a Manhattan federal courthouse last week because he had not quarantined for two weeks after traveling to New York from a state on a list of those whose coronavirus test rates were high.

Carroll, a former longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, said in her lawsuit that in the fall of 1995 or spring of 1996 she and Trump met in a chance encounter when they recognized each other at the Bergdorf Goodman store.

She said they engaged in a lighthearted chat about trying on a see-through lilac gray bodysuit when they made their way to a dressing room, where she said Trump pushed her against a wall and raped her.

Trump said Carroll was "totally lying" to sell a memoir and that he'd never met her, though a 1987 photo showed them and their then-spouses at a social event. He said the photo captured a moment when he was standing in a line.

Carroll, who wants unspecified damages and a retraction of Trump's statements, also seeks a DNA sample from Trump to see whether it matches as-yet-unidentified male genetic material found on a dress that she says she was wearing during the alleged attack.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.

Senate Approves Trump’s Third Supreme Court Nominee

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 07:30:55 GMT

The U.S. Senate approved President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, on Monday. VOA's congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on the crucial vote that is happening a little over a week before Election Day.

Produced by: Katherine Gypson Camera: Adam Greenbaum

US Supreme Court Upholds Wisconsin Mail-In Ballot Deadline

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 06:50:15 GMT

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that voters in the U.S. state of Wisconsin need to return their ballots to election officials by the time polls close on November 3 in order to be counted.

The court sided with Republicans who challenged an earlier decision by a lower court judge to extend the deadline to accept any ballots that were postmarked by November 3 but arrived by November 9.

Ballot deadlines vary by state, and as legal challenges have played out in recent weeks, the courts have generally supported rules put in place by state legislatures or election officials.

“No one doubts that conducting a national election amid a pandemic poses serious challenges,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion. “But none of that means individual judges may improvise with their own election rules in place of those the people’s representatives have adopted.”

Signs for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump mark neighboring properties in a middle-class neighborhood of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Sept. 29, 2020.

Republicans in multiple cases have argued there is enough time for voters to return their ballots by November 3, while Democrats argued extensions are necessary with historic numbers of people casting mail-in ballots in order to avoid gathering at polling sites on election day due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Justice Elena Kagan, one of three liberals on the Supreme Court who dissented in the 5-3 decision, wrote that the ruling "will disenfranchise large numbers of responsible voters in the midst of hazardous pandemic conditions."

The Wisconsin Elections Commission reported Monday that 1.7 million people had requested to vote by absentee ballot, and that 1.34 million had either cast a ballot by mail or voted absentee in person.

Nationwide, more than 64 million people had either cast mail-in ballots or voted early in person as of Monday night, according to the U.S. Elections Project.

About 20 of the 50 U.S. states currently allow ballots to come in after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by November 3.

Trump Campaign Focuses on Hunter Biden Emails as October Surprise

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 01:40:40 GMT

Trailing in the polls, President Donald Trump has seized upon recently disclosed emails allegedly from the son of Democratic candidate Joe Biden as an “October Surprise" that could alter the race. VOA's Brian Padden reports on how this development compares to past October Surprises.

Producer: Brian Padden

Senate Approves Trump High Court Pick With Partisan Vote

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 00:09:13 GMT

The U.S. Senate confirmed federal appellate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to a seat on the Supreme Court in a 52-48 vote late Monday.

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine joined the entire Democratic caucus voting against Barrett's confirmation. Collins said she would not vote for Barrett’s confirmation because of the proximity of the vote to next week’s presidential election.

According to the AP, no other Supreme Court justice has been confirmed on a recorded vote with no support from the minority party in at least 150 years.

Barrett is the third justice on the nine-member court to be nominated by President Donald Trump and significantly tip its ideological balance toward a 6-3 conservative majority. 

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is expected to swear Barrett in at a White House ceremony planned later Monday evening.

Democrats argued that the decision of picking a nominee for the seat should have been left up to whichever candidate wins the presidential election, a stance Republicans held when there was an election-year vacancy in early 2016. Republicans then refused to consider Democratic President Barack Obama’s nomination of another appellate judge, Merrick Garland.

"The Senate is doing the right thing" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday when advancing Barrett’s confirmation. “We’re moving this nomination forward.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called the vote "illegitimate" and "the last gasp of a desperate party," the AP reported.

Barrett could potentially consider election disputes involving Trump, although it is unclear whether she might recuse herself since Trump named her to the court. She declined to say at her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee two weeks ago whether she will avoid hearing disputes over extended deadlines for voters to return mail-in ballots and other issues Republicans and Democrats are contesting.

Barrett almost assuredly would be among the justices hearing a new challenge November 10 on whether to invalidate the country’s Affordable Care Act, which Trump has sought to overturn. 

The law, popularly known as Obamacare after the former president who championed its passage in 2010, is a measure that helps provide health care to millions of Americans. Its fate is a crucial concern for many people amid the surging number of new coronavirus cases in the United States. 

Republicans have long argued that Obamacare costs taxpayers too much and gives government too much control over health care. The Republican-led Congress in 2017 eliminated the law’s mandate requiring that people buy health insurance if they could afford to do so. They now want the Supreme Court to invalidate the entire statute, saying that without that key insurance provision, the rest of the legislation is invalid.

Barrett Likely to be Confirmed to US Supreme Court Monday

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 05:56:28 GMT

The U.S. Senate is expected to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to a seat on the Supreme Court in a vote late Monday.

If confirmed, Barrett would be the third justice on the nine-member court to be nominated by President Donald Trump and significantly tip its ideological balance toward a 6-3 conservative majority. 

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and Senator Susan Collins is the only Republican to indicate she would not vote on Barrett’s nomination due to the close proximity to next week’s presidential election.

Democrats have opposed Barrett’s nomination both objecting to her credentials and to the process of filling the seat of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in such rapid fashion.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett testifies during the third day of her confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 14, 2020.

The Democrats have argued that the decision of picking a nominee for the seat should have been left up to whichever candidate wins the presidential election, a position Republicans held when there was an election-year vacancy in early 2016.

"The Senate is doing the right thing," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday.“We’re moving this nomination forward.”

The Senate voted 51-48 Sunday to end Democrats’ filibuster on Barrett’s nomination, starting a period of 30 hours of debate before the final vote.

“Senate Democrats are taking over the floor all night to fight this sham process by Senate Republicans,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said. “We will not stop fighting.”

Barrett almost assuredly would be among the justices hearing a new challenge Nov. 10 on whether to invalidate the country’s Affordable Care Act, which Trump has sought to overturn. 

The law, popularly known as Obamacare after former President Barack Obama who championed its passage in 2010, is a measure that helps provide health care to millions of Americans. Its fate is a crucial concern for many people amid the surging number of new coronavirus cases in the United States. 

Republicans have long argued that Obamacare costs taxpayers too much and gives government too much control over health care. The Republican-led Congress in 2017 eliminated the Act’s mandate that people who could afford to buy health insurance do so. They now want the Supreme Court to invalidate the entire Act, saying that without that key provision, the rest of the legislation is invalid.

Top Aide to US Vice President Pence Tests Positive for Coronavirus

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 07:05:35 GMT

A close aide to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has tested positive for COVID-19, a spokesperson for the office said late Saturday.

“Today, Marc Short, chief of staff to the vice president, tested positive for COVID-19, began quarantine and assisting in the contact tracing process,” Devin O’Malley said, adding that Pence and his wife, Karen, tested negative Saturday and were in good health.

Pence “will maintain his schedule in accordance with the CDC guidelines for essential personnel," O’Malley said. On Sunday the vice president is to address a campaign rally in North Carolina.

Asked about Short when he returned to Washington Saturday evening, after rallies in three U.S. states, President Donald Trump said, “I did hear about it just now. I think he’s quarantining. I did hear about that. He’s going to be fine. But he’s quarantining.”

Trump Holds Rallies in 3 States While Biden Focuses on Pennsylvania

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 00:41:44 GMT

U.S. President Donald Trump held three large rallies in the U.S. states of North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin on Saturday while his challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, focused on the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where he held two drive-in campaign events.

Trump, the Republican incumbent, attacked Democrats and the media for continuing to focus on the coronavirus, accusing them of deflecting what he termed scandals involving Biden and his son Hunter.

“They are trying to hide all this corruption about the Biden family,” Trump said at his second rally in Circleville, Ohio.

When asked by reporters at the Columbus, Ohio, airport, just before that rally, about rising coronavirus cases, Trump replied, “you use the word ‘case’ because you’re trying to scare people. Don’t scare people. Don’t scare people.”

At his first event in Lumberton, North Carolina, he spoke about testing for COVID-19, a day after the United States registered a single-day record number of cases.

"In some ways it’s good. In many ways it’s foolish," Trump said of increased testing. “Cases are up. If we tested half, cases would be half,” he said.

The record number of cases gives “the fake news media something to talk about,” added the president.

Trump made the remark at a packed rally in defiance of pandemic social distancing guidelines in Lumberton.

At the event in Ohio, the president said the coronavirus “is going away” but the media only talks about “cases, cases, cases” and not a drop in COVID-19 deaths.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a drive-in campaign stop at Bucks County Community College in Bristol, Pa., Oct. 24, 2020.

However, hospitalizations for the virus are increasing in many states.

More than 8.5 million people, including the president, have been infected with COVID-19 in the United States, and about 225,000 of those have died of the disease for which there is no cure.

Prior to his Saturday appearances, Trump cast an early vote for himself in his home state of Florida, to which he switched his official residence from New York last year.

“It’s an honor to be voting,” the president told reporters immediately after depositing his ballot at a library in West Palm Beach after spending the night at his nearby Mar-a-Lago resort. “I voted for a guy named Trump.”

At Biden’s second event of the day, rock musician Jon Bon Jovi played three songs before the nominee addressed the drive-in rally in a high school parking lot in Dallas, Pennsylvania, where honking of car horns substituted for applause.

“These days on the radio and at the [Trump] rallies on the TV, I always hear a lot of ‘me, me, me,’ but I really do believe that Joe believes in the power of we,” said the singer, a New Jersey native who spent boyhood summers in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Biden told his supporters that “yesterday was the worst day we had” with the coronavirus and Trump “is doing nothing.”

According to the former vice president, “Donald Trump hasn’t delivered on a damn thing he said he’d do.”

The event took place in the pivotal county of Luzerne, which voted for the ticket of Barack Obama and Biden in 2012 but helped to deliver Pennsylvania to Trump four years ago.

Biden, earlier in the day, also held a socially distanced drive-in event at a community college in Bucks County, a suburban county near Philadelphia that Hillary Clinton captured by a slim margin in 2016.

A group of Trump supporters could faintly be heard a short distance away, but loud enough for Biden to be aware of their presence.

“I’ll work as hard for those who don’t support me as those who do, including those chumps out there with a microphone.”

Speaking about the coronavirus, the Democratic Party nominee warned, “there’s going to be a dark winter ahead unless we change our way.” 

Trump at his first rally of the day mocked that comment, sarcastically calling his opponent, “a very inspiring guy.” 

Obama, meanwhile, spoke Saturday at a drive-in rally in North Miami in Florida.

“What we do in the next 10 days will matter for decades to come,” said the former president.

Obama contended that his successor has failed in the job and “doesn’t even acknowledge the reality of what’s taking place across the country” with the pandemic.

Trump, said Obama, has treated the presidency “like a reality show to give himself more attention.”

Although the presidential election is less than two weeks away, more than 57 million people have already voted. Another 100 million or so are expected to cast ballots before a winner is declared.

Most nationwide polls show Biden comfortably ahead of Trump, and the challenger also with slight leads in key states that are expected to swing the outcome of the election.

Alaska's Murkowski to Support Barrett for Supreme Court

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 20:47:50 GMT

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski announced Saturday that she would vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, giving crucial support to President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee before the conservative judge faces a final vote expected Monday.

The Alaska Republican had been a rare holdout on Barrett, expressing concern that the nomination had proceeded so close to a presidential election. Even though Barrett already appeared to have sufficient support for confirmation from Senate Republicans who hold the majority in the chamber, Murkowski's vote now gives Trump's nominee additional backing.

Murkowski announced her support for Barrett in a speech during Saturday's session. “While I oppose the process that has led us to this point, I do not hold it against her,” she said.

The Senate opened a rare weekend session Saturday as Republicans raced to put Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court and seal a conservative majority before Election Day despite Democratic efforts to stall the confirmation.

No chance for Democrats

Democrats are poised to mount more time-consuming procedural hurdles, but the party has no realistic chance of stopping Barrett's advance in the Republican-controlled chamber. Barrett, a federal appeals court judge, is expected to be confirmed Monday and quickly join the court.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, noted the political rancor, but defended his handling of the process.

FILE - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell holds a face mask while participating in a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Oct. 20, 2020.

“Our recent debates have been heated, but curiously talk of Judge Barrett's actual credentials or qualifications are hardly featured,” McConnell said. He called her one of the most “impressive" nominees for public office "in a generation."

The fast-track confirmation process is like none other in U.S. history so close to a presidential election. Democrats call it a “sham” and say the winner of the November 3 presidential election should name the nominee to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York warned Republicans the only way to remove the “stain” of their action would be to “withdraw the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett until after the election.”

With the nation experiencing a surge of COVID-19 cases, Democrats were expected to force a series of votes throughout Saturday on coronavirus relief legislation, including the House-passed Heroes Act that would pump money into schools, hospitals and jobless benefits and provide other aid.

Majority Republicans were expected to turn aside the measures and keep Barrett's confirmation on track, which would lock a 6-3 conservative majority on the court for the near future. Senators planned to stay in session Saturday and Sunday.

FILE - Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett testifies during the third day of her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 14, 2020.

Barrett, 48, presented herself in public testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee as a neutral arbiter of cases on abortion, the Affordable Care Act and presidential power — issues soon confronting the court. At one point she suggested, “It's not the law of Amy.”

But Barrett's past writings against abortion and a ruling on the Obama-era health care law show a deeply conservative thinker.

Trump said this week he was hopeful the Supreme Court would undo the health law when the justices take up a challenge November 10, the week after the election.

At the start of Trump's presidency, McConnell engineered a Senate rules change to allow confirmation by a majority of the 100 senators, rather than the 60-vote threshold traditionally needed to advance high court nominees over objections. The GOP holds a 53-47 majority in the chamber.

Collins to vote 'no'

Most Republicans are supporting Barrett's confirmation. In the wake of Murkowski's announcement on Saturday, only Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine has said she won't vote for a nominee so close to the presidential election.

Republicans on the Judiciary Committee powered Barrett's nomination forward Thursday despite a boycott of the vote by Democrats.

Senator Lindsey Graham, the committee chairman, acknowledged the partisan nature of the proceedings, but said he could not live with himself if the Senate failed to confirm someone he said was such an exceptional nominee. The South Carolina Republican called Barrett a “role model” for conservative women and for people of strongly held religious beliefs.

Democrats decried the “sham” process and said Barrett would undo much of what was accomplished by liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

By pushing for Barrett's ascension so close to the November 3 election, Trump and his Republican allies are counting on a campaign boost, in much the way they believe McConnell's refusal to allow the Senate to consider President Barack Obama's nominee in February 2016 created excitement for Trump among conservatives and evangelical Christians eager for the Republican president to make that nomination after Justice Antonin Scalia's death.

FILE - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., attends the second day of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 13, 2020.

Graham, for example, with his high-profile role leading the hearings, has been raking in about $1 million a day this month for his reelection campaign. That rate outpaces Graham’s third-quarter total of $28 million, which his campaign said represented the largest amount ever raised by any Republican Senate candidate in a single quarter, in any state.

Barrett was a professor at Notre Dame Law School when she was tapped by Trump in 2017 for an appeals court opening. Two Democrats joined at that time to confirm her, but none is expected to vote for her in the days ahead.

During the three days of testimony, and subsequent filings to the Senate committee, Barrett declined to answer basic questions for senators, such as whether the president can change the date of federal elections, which is set in law. Instead, she pledged to take the cases as they come.

Trump Casts Vote in Florida Before Hitting Campaign Trail

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 13:57:38 GMT

U.S. President Donald Trump cast his ballot for the November 3 presidential election in his adopted home state of Florida Saturday, while his Democratic challenger Joe Biden spends the day focusing on the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

Trump, who switched his official residence from New York to Florida last year, voted early in the day in West Palm Beach after spending the night at his nearby Mar-a-Lago resort.

“It was a very secure vote. Everything was perfect,” Trump told reporters as he left the Palm Beach county library, which serves as a polling location. “It’s an honor to be voting.”

Asked who he voted for, the president said, “I voted for a guy named Trump.”

The president is on his way to Lumberton, North Carolina, for a campaign rally. He will also hold rallies in Circleville, Ohio, and Waukesha, Wisconsin.

FILE - Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, Oct. 23, 2020.

Former Vice President Biden, meanwhile, holds drive-in events in Bucks County, a suburban Philadelphia county that Hillary Clinton captured by a slim margin in 2016, and in nearby Luzerne County. Former President Barack Obama won Luzerne County twice before voters there cast ballots overwhelmingly for Trump in 2016.

Biden’s campaign also seeks voter support Saturday in the key state of Florida, with Obama holding a drive-in rally in North Miami on behalf of his former vice president.

Although the presidential election is less than two weeks away, more than 52 million people have already voted. Another 100 million or so are expected to cast ballots before a winner is declared.

Contrasting Views on the Coronavirus from Trump, Biden as Cases Resurge

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 03:10:11 GMT

As the United States saw its highest number of new coronavirus cases reported in a single day, former Vice President Joe Biden announced that if he defeats President Donald Trump in next month’s election, he will push for a nationwide mask mandate.

“I’ll go to every governor and urge them to mandate masks in their state. And if any refuse, I’ll go to the mayors and county executives to get local masking requirements in place nationwide,” Biden said in a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, 11 days before the vote.

“As president, I’ll mandate mask-wearing in all federal buildings and on interstate transportation because masks save lives,” he said.

More than 80,000 new COVID-19 infections were reported Friday by Johns Hopkins University, topping the single-day record of 77,362 set July 16.

All but about a half dozen of the 50 U.S. states have shown increased coronavirus cases this week compared to last week. At least 14 states have reported new highs in hospitalized coronavirus patients in the past seven days.

Trump criticized Biden on Friday in Florida for emphasizing the infection, for which there is yet no vaccine or cure.

“All he talks about is COVID COVID, COVID because they want to scare people, and we've done so well with it,” Trump said in the senior citizens’ community of The Villages.

“We're rounding the turn. We're rounding the corner. We're rounding the corner beautifully,” he said.

Later, at a second campaign rally in Pensacola, he told a packed crowd of thousands, where few were wearing masks, “we want normal to fully resume and that’s happening.”

Trump’s critics have accused him of holding “super-spreader events,” in defiance of federal health guidelines and local regulations on social distancing.

Biden, laying out his pandemic response plan Friday, criticized Trump for asserting during their nationally televised debate Thursday night that the country is learning to live with the coronavirus.

“As I told him last night, we’re not learning to live with it,” Biden said.

“We’re learning to die with it, and there is a dark winter ahead,” he said.

There are predictions from public health officials of a coronavirus case surge as cold weather sets in across the Northern Hemisphere.

Biden said Friday that “once we have a safe and effective vaccine, it has to be free to everyone -- whether or not you're insured.”

Trump continues to defend his administration’s handling of the pandemic amid criticism he has sidelined top career government infectious diseases experts on his coronavirus task force, in favor of outsiders such as Dr. Scott Atlas, a neuro-radiologist who has minimized the importance of masks.

Atlas has also reportedly promoted the argument that lockdowns and prohibitions on gatherings and indoor activities do more damage than good and lead to increases in poverty and mental problems.

COVID-19 has killed more than 223,000 people in the United States and infected nearly 8.5 million.

Trump on Friday, without giving specifics, vowed “we will eradicate the pandemic and defeat this scourge from China once and for all.”