Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 10, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A10 A 10 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMNEWS I WORLD EXETER, N.H. — A voter who was told she couldn’t wear an anti-Trump shirt at a polling place because it violated electioneering rules simply whipped it off and did her civic duty topless. The woman walked into a polling place in Exeter, N.H., on Tuesday’s primary election wearing a “McCain Hero, Trump Zero” T-shirt. Town mod- erator Paul Scafidi told her she couldn’t wear a shirt featuring a political can- didate while she voted, Seacoastonline. com reported in a story that did not identify the woman. No person “shall distribute, wear, or post at a polling place any cam- paign material,” according to state law. People who are convicted can be fined as much as $1,000. Neither Trump nor McCain, who died in 2018, were on Tuesday’s ballot, which featured races for governor and Congress. The woman pointed out that another woman nearby was wearing a T-shirt in support of the American flag, Scaf- idi said. He answered that an American flag was not electioneering and that the “Trump Zero” shirt would have to be covered. So the woman asked if he wanted her to take her shirt off. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath. “I said I’d rather she not,” Scafidi said. “But she took it off so fast, no one had time to react. So the whole place just went, ‘whoa,’ and she walked away, and I let her vote.” He noted that she could have just gone into the hallway and turned it in- side out. After voting, Scafidi said, the woman put her shirt back on and left. There were about 15 other voters around, Scafidi said, and he didn’t no- tice any children present. Scafidi could have had her removed for violating the state indecency law, he said, but he didn’t want to inflame the situation, and “we had more im- portant things to worry about; we had to get 2,000 people to vote safely, and check-in and count 2,000 absentee bal- lots.” — The Associated Press Topless woman casts vote after anti-Trump shirt nixed NEW YORK — U.S. President Don- ald Trump and his Republican Party jointly raised US$210 million in Au- gust, a robust sum — but one dwarfed by the record US$364.5 million raised by Democrats and their nominee, Joe Biden. Trump’s campaign released its fig- ure Wednesday, several days later than usual and nearly a week after the Biden campaign unveiled its total, the highest for any one month during a presidential campaign. The president’s re-election team said it brought in more money during its party’s convention than the Democrats did in theirs, and officials insisted they “will have all the resour- ces we need” ahead of November. “Both campaigns are raising mas- sive amounts of money but have very different priorities about how to spend it,” said Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien. “In addition to advertising, Presi- dent Trump’s campaign has invested heavily in a muscular field operation and ground game that will turn out our voters, while the Biden campaign is waging almost exclusively an air war. We like our strategy better.” The noticeable fundraising gap be- tween the two candidates was certain to further rattle Republicans already nerv- ous about Biden’s advantage over Trump in some battleground states that could decide the election. Whispers about a fi- nancial disadvantage led Trump himself this week to suggest he may put some of his own fortune into the race. Biden’s August total spoke to the en- thusiasm among Democrats to oust Trump from office. The flood of new contributions came from grassroots supporters as well as deep-pocketed donors, and should alleviate any lin- gering concern over whether Demo- crats will be able to inundate the air- waves in key states. The Trump campaign, however, faces questions about how it has managed to lose a massive financial advantage. An- nouncing for re-election the day of his inauguration in 2017, which allowed him to begin raising money right away, Trump built an enormous war chest early on that advisers believed put him at a big advantage over the eventual Democratic nominee. Trump’s re-election effort, including the Republican National Committee, has spent more than US$800 million so far, while Biden and the Democrats have spent about US$414 million through July, campaign spending re- ports show. Trump’s team has also gone dark on the airwaves for stretches as the election has heated up, raising ques- tions as to whether it was short on cash. Trump campaign officials have kicked off a review of expenditures, including those authorized by former campaign manager Brad Parscale, who was demoted this summer. Some of his decisions have raised eyebrows, includ- ing a US$100-million blitz earlier this year before voters were largely pay- ing attention, though that plan was de- fended by Trump Tuesday. Parscale also had a car and driver, unusual perks for a campaign manager, and his spending was the subject of an ad campaign by the Lincoln Project, a group of current and former Republic- ans looking to defeat Trump. The ad im- agined a glitzy Parscale lifestyle full of luxury cars and a tony condo in Florida. The ad infuriated Trump, who has long been sensitive to the perception that others are enriching themselves on his name. Many in the campaign, who largely liked Parscale, grumbled that he rarely showed in the suburban Vir- ginia campaign headquarters, instead frequently calling in from his home in Ft. Lauderdale. Some of the campaign’s expenditures clearly were designed with the presi- dent in mind, including a series of cable buys solely in Washington, a Democrat- ic stronghold yet a TV market person- ally viewed by Trump, a voracious con- sumer of television news. Moreover, the campaign dropped millions on a swaggering World Series ad as well as two on Super Bowl game day intended to match former Demo- cratic candidate Michael Bloomberg’s US$10 million spending that day that totalled more than Trump’s combined advertising in Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota. Parscale had been a favourite of Jar- ed Kushner, the president’s son-in-law perceived to be the de facto campaign manager. But Kushner soured on Par- scale since the debacle of Trump’s in- tended comeback rally in Tulsa, Okla., this summer and the president has complained to advisers the campaign squandered its massive fundraising ad- vantage, according to two campaign of- ficials not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. Even Parscale’s internal critics give him credit for helping the Trump cam- paign construct an unparalleled Repub- lican operation to attract small donors online. Parscale, who did not respond to a request for comment, directed a major investment in digital ads and list- building that appears to have paid for itself. Stepien, who replaced Parscale as campaign manager in July, says he is “carefully managing the budget.” He also says the team’s advertising will be “nimble,” and include a TV spree in early voting states as well as an urban radio campaign in Minnesota, Wiscon- sin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida that will contrast Trump’s record for Black voters with Biden’s. That campaign will be aimed just as much at suburban white listeners. “We have much more money than we had last time going into the last two months. But if we needed any more, I’d put it up,” Trump said Tuesday, vowing to open his wallet. “If I have to, I would.” Campaign officials, however, private- ly acknowledge it is unlikely Trump will spend much of his own money, something he resisted doing during the election four years ago. Perhaps in an effort to bury dis- appointing news, the campaign re- leased its numbers Wednesday just a short time after the release of explosive excerpts from Bob Woodward’s book in which Trump acknowledges knowingly downplaying the severity of the corona- virus pandemic to the American public. In August, as the president’s cam- paign held a busy calendar of events, he upped his fundraising haul from US$72 million in July. Biden’s campaign raised US$49 million in July, and Democratic officials attributed the eye-popping amount raised in August to antipathy toward Trump, the selection of Califor- nia Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate and a convention that showcased the nominee’s empathy. — The Associated Press JONATHAN LEMIRE Ousted Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale had a car and driver. Trump’s fundraising comes up well short of Biden’s W ARREN, Mich. — Joe Biden travelled to suburban Detroit on Wednesday to make a direct appeal to blue-collar workers who might have voted Republican four years ago but now regret it — attempting to rebuild the once fabled Democratic “blue wall— that crumbled and helped catapult Donald Trump to the White House. The former vice-president’s first coronavirus- era campaign trips beyond his home in Delaware have been to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Mich- igan, an indication of how closely Biden’s electoral prospects are tied to winning back those formerly reliably Democratic states. Biden pledged to rewrite tax codes to reward U.S. companies that invest in domestic manufac- turing while imposing penalties on those that send jobs to other countries. He spoke outside a United Auto Workers regional office in Warren, flanked by an array of U.S.-made cars including Fords, Jeeps and Chevrolets. “I’m not looking to punish American businesses but there’s a better way,” Biden said. “Make it in Michigan. Make it in America. Invest in our com- munities and the workers in places like Warren.” He noted a local General Motors transmission plant closed last year despite Trump’s pledges to protect Michigan jobs, adding, “I bet the workers around here weren’t all that comforted by Trump’s empty promises.” “Under Donald Trump, Michigan lost auto jobs even before COVID hit,” Biden said. “And what about offshoring? Has Trump delivered on stop- ping companies from shipping American jobs overseas? You already know the answer. Of course not.” Later Wednesday, Biden visited a clothing shop in a predominantly Black neighbourhood of De- troit. Last week, he went to Wisconsin and was followed quickly by running mate Kamala Har- ris, who held Labour Day events there. Biden hit Pennsylvania during the holiday and will be back Friday. Trump is countering with his own trip to Mich- igan today and flies to Pennsylvania himself the following day. Though the Biden campaign often emphasizes that it sees multiple ways to secure the 270 Elec- toral College votes it needs to win in November, the quickest path runs through Michigan, Pennsyl- vania and Wisconsin. “If Biden wins any of them — but particularly any two, with some of the other states that are in play — it’s pretty impossible for Trump to win the Electoral College,” said veteran Democratic strat- egist Joe Trippi. Biden’s aides believe his focus on the economy and Trump’s handling of the coronavirus will res- onate with key voters nationwide but particularly in states such as Michigan, which took one of the sharpest hits nationally from the pandemic. The state’s unemployment rate spiked at 24 per cent in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It has since recovered to 8.7 per cent, but Michigan has nearly 414,500 fewer jobs than it did when Trump was inaugurated. Previewing the president’s own Michigan trip, the Trump campaign looked to paint Biden as def- erential on China. Trump’s allies have long cred- ited his hawkish stance toward Beijing in 2016 as helping him win the industrial Midwest, which suffered job losses overseas that Trump blamed on Obama-era trade policies. “Biden’s record in Washington speaks for itself: he has bowed down to the Chinese communist regime,” said Michigan Republican Rep Jack Bergman. Trump aides have frequently repeated claims about Biden’s ties to China, but that’s proven prob- lematic in light of Trump’s own kind words for that country earlier this year at the start of the pandemic. They also have also ignored the Obama- Biden administration’s efforts to save the Amer- ican automotive industry, based in Michigan, after 2008’s recession. Biden stressed the Obama White House’s efforts to revive the auto industry 12 years ago and said Wednesday Trump has “failed our economy and our country.” He also promised to create a “Made in America” office within the White House Office of Management and Budget to ensure government projects use resources made domestically. Trump supporters maintain the president ful- filled his job-creation promises and was only tem- porarily sidetracked by the pandemic. But hiring at factories across the Midwest, including in Mich- igan, Ohio and Wisconsin, began to stall and then decline in the summer of 2019. Trump won Michigan by the narrowest margin of any state in 2016 — fewer than 11,000 votes — and Democrats made huge gains there in the mid- terms, winning every major statewide office and a handful of congressional seats as well. Indeed, Democrats see reasons for optimism in the party’s gains during the 2018 midterms in all three states, which were powered in part by an exodus of suburban women from the GOP. They believe that a stronger emphasis on minority turn- out — with Harris, the first African-American woman on a major ticket, focused heavily on Black voters in key states — will help Biden make up some of the ground Clinton lost in 2016. After his speech in Warren, Biden stopped by a Three Thirteen clothing store in Detroit, posed for pictures and picked up a handful of shirts stenciled with “Detroit made me,” which he suggested he’d buy for his grandchildren. Michigan Democratic Rep. Brenda Lawrence was among those on hand. “The campaign’s taking it more seriously from the start than national Democrats did four years ago,— said Amy Chapman, who worked as Barack Obama’s Michigan state director in 2008. “They started doing advertising earlier than they did last cycle — last cycle they were only up at the very end — and the ads show what Biden would do, as well as showing a contrast with Trump.” The Biden campaign is heavily outspending the Trump campaign on-air in all three states. Since Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in early April, his campaign has spent about US$59.8 million to the Trump campaign’s nearly US$26.8 million across the states, according to the ad track- ing firm Kantar/CMAG. The difference is starkest in Michigan, where the Biden campaign has spent US$17.2 million to Trump’s US$6.7 million. — The Associated Press Democrat tells workers Michigan loses jobs under Trump Biden tries to rebuild party’s ‘blue wall’ ALEXANDRA JAFFE AND WILL WEISSERT PATRICK SEMANSKY / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Democratic candidate Joe Biden speaks during an event on manufacturing and buying U.S.-made products at UAW Region 1 headquarters in Warren, Mich., Wednesday. A_10_Sep-10-20_FP_01.indd A10 2020-09-09 10:33 PM ;