The Clinton campaign was accused by FOX News of thinking that they are at a lock for the White House, now focusing on the Senate races.
Robby Mook, her campaign manager, said, “We’re not taking anything for granted.”
Clinton for McGinty
Katie McGinty. (Credit: www.elle.com)
Just the day before, Hillary Clinton spent a lot of her speaking time at Pittsburgh talking up Katie McGinty and trying to criticize Sen. Pat Toomey for not standing up to Trump when he made comments about Mexican immigrants and a Muslim-American military family. Clinton asked, “If he doesn’t have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump, are you sure he’ll be able to stand up for you?” McGinty, a Democrat, is running for Senate in PA.
Toomey is close with Katie McGinty in the race for a spot in the Senate. Clinton told the crowd that she was “exactly the kind of senator that Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania needs.” After attacking Toomey, she praised Republicans for rejecting Trump.
Helping Other Democrats
On her plane in Pittsburgh she told reporters that she wants to put more time to helping other Democrats. She is clearly feeling confident that she no longer needs to run for herself and now she’s just choosing some Democrats to replace those openings in high places.
Afterwards, she was asked about the speech and Clinton responded with, “As we’re traveling in these last 17 days, we’re going to be emphasizing the importance of electing Democrats down the ballot.”
Making Time in Arizona
Lately the campaign has been spending a whole lot of time in states like Arizona, Indiana and Missouri which are key states for Trump. Mook said that the campaign is putting resources into Arizona, shifting them from Florida. Their campaign is milking things Trump said about John McCain to win over Arizona. He explained, “Every campaign wants to win by the biggest margin possible.” About the suggestion that Clinton wants a “mandate” victory on election day, Mook said, “So that would be great. But we’re not running away with this. This race is going to be competitive up until the end.”
Defending Trump
Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, told Fox News that the race isn’t over. She said that three new polls demonstrate a cut at Clinton’s 6 percent lead. She said, “We’re not giving up.” The Trump campaign plans on spending more money on TV ads in battleground states.
Tim Kaine backed up Mook when asked on NBC about the campaign focusing on “down ballot” races and if he thinks they have already won. Kaine answered, “Neither Hillary nor I do. And if you look at our schedules, you’ll see we don’t take anything for granted. It’s been a season of surprises. … We’re not taking anything for granted.”
The Numbers Are Still Young
Kaine and Mook do feel encouraged by the early-voting numbers leaning in their way. Mook called them “eye-popping.”
On Saturday, over 5.3 million votes were cast from 34 early-voting states. Over 46 million people will vote before Election Day.
Either way things can change rapidly in elections. Two weeks is still plenty of time for battleground states to be won or lost.
