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Biden playing offense with campaign stops in GA, while Trump packs schedule with swing-state rallies

Biden playing offense with campaign stops in GA, while Trump packs schedule with swing-state rallies
Posted at 10:40 AM, Oct 27, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-27 14:07:08-04

With one week until election day, the campaigns for President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee are hitting the trail with full force, as the candidates and their surrogates crisscross the country to make their final pitch to voters.

And based on Tuesday's campaign stops, it appears Trump is playing defense while Biden is playing offense.

Trump has an extremely packed campaign schedule on Tuesday with three planned rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and in Omaha, Nebraska — all states and districts that Trump won in 2016, and likely needs to carry in 2020 if he hopes to win again.

On the Democratic side, Biden will be making two campaign appearances in Georgia — a state that has voted for a Republican in the last six presidential elections. However, polls show that that the Peach State is a toss-up this year, and a Biden win in what has been a Republican stronghold could cause Trump's electoral map to crumble.

Top aides for the candidates will also be out in full force on Tuesday. First lady Melania Trump — who rarely appears solo on the campaign trail — will deliver a stump speech in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania at 2 p.m. ET. Pennsylvania is one of the "Blue Wall" states that Trump flipped in the 2016 election, but recent polls show the state leaning toward Biden this year.

Last week, Melania Trump canceled a scheduled campaign to Pennsylvania because of a "lingering" cough following her and her husband's COVID-19 diagnosis earlier this month.

Former President Barack Obama also returned to the campaign trail on Tuesday, attending a drive-in event in the key battleground state of Florida.

While campaigning for Biden, Obama decried Republicans' attempts to dismantle his landmark legislation — the Affordable Care Act — while simultaneously promising a replacement plan that has yet to materialize.

Obama also hit the Trump administration for their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for holding what proved to be a "superspreader" event while celebrating the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barett.

“I lived in the White House ... You know, it's a controlled environment. You can take some preventive measures in the White House to avoid getting sick," Obama said. "Except this guy (Trump) can't seem to do it. He's turned the White House into a hot zone."

Obama also slammed Trump's foreign policy agenda, criticizing him for his embrace of dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.

"You think he's going to stand up to dictators? He thinks Lesley Stahl is a bully," Obama said, referencing Trump's decision to walk away from a "60 Minutes" interview last week.

After watching the 2020 primary race from the sideline, Obama has thrown his full weight behind Biden and made several campaign appearances in recent days.