Harris tells Tucson voters 'Trump failed,' as Pence campaigns in Wisconsin

Joe Biden's running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris has met with Latina business leaders in Arizona's Tucson, as well as African American community leaders in Phoenix, and held drive-in, voter mobilisation rallies in both places.

In order to make her point during a pandemic-friendly drive-in rally in Tucson Harris invoked the late John McCain as someone known for "a little straight talk".

"I am a proud, patriotic American. I love my country. And our values reflect the values of America," Harris said in response to those who have criticised her values on Wednesday.

She slammed President Donald Trump for not being forthright to the American people in his depiction of the Covid-19 pandemic.  "Our values tell us we have witnessed the worst, the biggest disaster of any presidential administration in the history of this country."

Harris laid out contrasting differences between Biden and Trump in handling the virus and told those at the voter mobilisation event where about 100 cars had gathered that "Donald Trump failed. He failed us,"

  READ MORE: Kamala Harris makes history with Democratic vice president nod

Obamacare

Harris said, by Trump's inactions to reveal the seriousness of the virus earlier this year and his administration's efforts to abolition the Affordable Care Act. "He failed the American people."

Harris compared Biden's health care proposals with Trump's strategy on health care, saying that Trump would leave millions with preexisting conditions devoid of coverage.

Harris said Biden, on the other hand, is prepared to improve on Obamacare and provide access for low income Americans and provide coverage for preexisting conditions.

She prompted those attending to honk if they knew anyone with such a condition and laid out a list examples such as diabetes and breast cancer where the response was clearly heard from honking horns.

Harris contrasted the presidential candidates' economic strategies, she said, "Joe Biden, who says you want to deal with the economy?" Look at the economic wellbeing of average Americans.

"Donald Trump, when asked about how's the economy doing, Donald Trump asks how's the stock market doing?"

On Friday, Harris will visit Fort Worth, Houston and the US-Mexico border town of McAllen in Texas – a state that hasn't backed a Democrat for president since 1976 or even elected one to statewide office since 1994. Harris defended the choice to spend several of the election's closing days campaigning in traditionally Republican states.

Texas was long so reliably red that top national Democrats visited only to hold fundraisers, then spent their hauls in places thought to be more competitive.

READ MORE: How Kamala Harris built her political identity

Pence says  Road to victory goes through Wisconsin

Meanwhile, US Vice President Mike Pence campaigned in central Wisconsin on Wednesday, appearing at the airport in Mosinee. 

Trump campaigned in Mosinee, which is near Wausau, last month. Pence touted his endorsements this week by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state's largest business group, and other Wisconsin-based groups.

“The road to victory goes straight through Wisconsin,” Pence said, encouraging people to take advantage of early voting and cast their ballot immediately.

President Donald Trump planned to hold a rally in Green Bay on Friday, marking his third stop in a week to Wisconsin as part of a final push from both sides to capture the key swing state as coronavirus cases soared to new heights.
Democrat Joe Biden is also scheduled to campaign in Wisconsin on Friday, but he has not said where.

A Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday showed Biden with a 5-point lead over Trump among likely voters, 48 percent  to 43 percent. Since May, Biden has held a 5-point lead over Trump, plus or minus 1 point, in the poll.

The survey was conducted October 21 through Sunday of 749 likely voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

The poll comes as more than 1.5 million people in Wisconsin have already voted by mail or in person. That is 51 percent of the total votes cast in the 2016 election.

There were just over 287,000 unreturned absentee ballots as of Wednesday morning.

New version of life?

The suburbs wouldn't be the suburbs anymore, the economy would sink into its worst depression ever and police departments would cease to exist. Even America's older adults would be left to figure out how to get by without heat, air conditioning or electricity.

This is the apocalyptic version of American life that President Donald Trump argues would be the dire consequence of turning over the White House to Democrat Joe Biden.

"He’ll bury you in regulations, dismantle your police departments, dissolve our borders, confiscate your guns, terminate religious liberty, destroy your suburbs,” Trump said in one of many over-the-top pronouncements about Biden in the campaign's final weeks. 

Trump typically makes his warning about the fate of suburbia as he showcases his own decision to end federal regulations that govern the placement of low-incoming housing in the suburbs.

Campaign rhetoric can often become heated and hyperbolic as candidates scrap for every last advantage before the votes are counted.

Experts say instilling fear in one's opponent is usually the primary motivating factor behind such talk as candidates seek to give voters a reason to put a checkmark next to their name on the ballot.

READ MORE: Trump, Biden woo voters in pivotal Pennsylvania