Trump, Obama pitch to midterm voters

WASHINGTON - No longer reluctant to speak out, former President Barack Obama delivered a closing argument for Democrats that seeks a firm check on President Donald Trump’s policies in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Obama and Trump offered competing visions for the country in a split screen of campaigning on Sunday, seeking to galvanize voter turnout in the fight to control Congress and governors’ mansions.

Obama rallied Democrats in Gary, Indiana, on behalf of Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana, who faces a stiff challenge from Republican businessman Mike Braun. Later in the day, the former president campaigned in his hometown of Chicago for businessman J.B. Pritzker, Democrats’ nominee for Illinois governor.

Obama has taken on a more public role this fall after refraining from offering a full-blown counterpoint to Trump’s policies, which have sought to dismantle Obama’s legacy. Without invoking his name, Obama has accused Trump of lying and “fear-mongering” and warned Democrats not to be distracted.

Trump has punched back, accusing Obama of leaving behind a trail of broken promises on trade, the economic recovery and a promise during his presidency that patients could keep their doctors under his health care law.

Trump headlined Sunday rallies in Macon, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, supporting Republican Brian Kemp, who is running for Georgia governor, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is seeking an open Senate seat in Tennessee.

A look at campaign activities on Sunday:

Obama in Indiana

Obama praised Donnelly during a rally in northwest Indiana as someone who’s honest and direct, telling voters, “You don’t want a ‘yes’ man.”

Obama’s appearance in Gary was sandwiched between Trump’s trips to Indiana on Friday and today to help Braun.

Donnelly has often sounded far more like Trump than Obama on issues. He angered some Democrats by embracing some of Trump’s priorities, including a border wall with Mexico. But he has supported the Affordable Care Act, the health care overhaul signed into law by Obama.

The former president told thousands of cheering supporters ?that he and Donnelly don’t always agree. But he said it was more important to elect a senator who will put what’s best for his state over his party.

Trump in Georgia

Rallying his faithful in Macon, Georgia, Trump praised Kemp as a “strong man” and “strong personality” and said Kemp would become a great governor for Georgia.

The president assailed Kemp’s Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, as “one of the most extreme far-left politicians in the entire country.”

The Georgia race has garnered attention from a list of high-profile backers, including Oprah Winfrey, who campaigned for Abrams last week. Abrams is attempting to become the nation’s first black female governor.

Trump said Winfrey was a friend of his until he ran for president but he is now urging Georgia voters to listen to his endorsement instead of hers.

Biden on ‘moral fabric’

In Pennsylvania, a hoarse former Vice President Joe Biden accused the Trump administration of shredding the nation’

Democrats, he said, must take back the country to reset the nation’s moral compass.

“This is the United States of America,” Biden said. “We can take it back.”

Biden spoke to a crowd of more than 500 people at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg to boost George Scott, a Democratic candidate for Congress challenging three-term Republican Rep. Scott Perry.

Biden traced a line from the mass killing in a Pittsburgh synagogue and the slaying of two black shoppers at a Kentucky grocery store last month to Trump’s remarks after clashes between white supremacists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville when he blamed both sides for the violence.

“When hatred is given space to fester, it gives license to others to come out from the darkness,” Biden said, accusing Trump of putting “fuel on the fire of intolerance.”

Immigration claims

The White House pushed back against claims that Trump’s recent steps to secure the U.S. southern border were motivated by the upcoming election.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the president’s moves had nothing to do with electoral politics.

“It has always been about securing the safety of the American people and securing our southern border,” Pompeo said.

Trump is sending up to 15,000 U.S. troops to the border to stave off a caravan of migrants slowly making its way through southern Mexico, hundreds of miles from the border. Trump has also announced plans to try to end the constitutionally protected right of birthright citizenship for all children born in the U.S.

Congressional stakes

There are indications that an oft-discussed “blue wave” may help Democrats seize control of at least one chamber of Congress. But two years after an election that proved polls and prognosticators wrong, nothing is certain on the eve of the first nationwide elections of the Trump presidency.”

All 435 seats in the House and ?35 Senate seats are in play.