As Clinton focuses on debate, Trump says he’d champion women

ROANOKE, Virginia: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is arguing that he’ll do more to help women from the White House than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. At the same time, he’s taunting her over the infidelities of her husband.

As Trump campaigned in the battleground state of Virginia, Clinton stayed close to home in New York while preparing for Monday night’s opening debate. She was spotted at a Westchester hotel near her home in Chappaqua, but her campaign would not comment on whether she was holding practice sessions at the hotel.

Clinton and Trump were expected to meet separately on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has sought to project neutrality in this year’s election. There were perceptions that he favored Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama in 2012.

Trump told supporters at a rally Saturday in Roanoke, Virginia, that Clinton has not delivered for women and children.

“My opponent likes to say that for decades she’s been fighting for women, that she’s been fighting for children. Why, then, are 70 million American women and children living in poverty or on the brink of poverty in our country?” Trump asked. “For years she’s been doing this and she’s done nothing.”

TheTh appeal l came hoursh afterft Trump threatened on Twitter to invite a woman who’d had an affair with Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, to sit in the first row at their first debate. The Clinton campaign had invited Mark Cuban, a fellow billionaire and Trump rival, to the event.

“If dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!” Trump said.

Trump’s campaign officials did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday, and it remained unclear

Twhetherh th FlowersFl would ld actuallyt ll attend.tt d Earlier Saturday, one of Clinton’s supporters, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, accused Trump and his fellow Republicans of “making hate OK.” She told Clinton campaign volunteers in Nashua, New Hampshire, that she never predicted a major presidential candidate would base a campaign on scapegoating Mexicans, women and Muslims.

Warren was particularly critical of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who denounced Trump in the primary campaign but announced Friday that he strongly opposedd ClintonCli t andd would ld votet forf hishi former rival.

“Is that really what your word is worth, Ted Cruz?” she asked.

In Texas, Cruz described as “agonizing” his decision to announce that he would vote for Trump but denied that he had given in to pressure to support his rival for the Republican nomination. His announcement Friday, from which the word “endorsement” was conspicuously absent, drew criticism because of his longstanding antipathy for the man he had called a “pathological liar.” WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are in a virtual dead heat in their bitter race for the White House on the eve of their first head-to-head presidential debate, a new poll showed Sunday.

The Washington Post-ABC News poll found that Clinton’s slim margin from last month has now vanished. Instead, the Democrat and her Republican rival tied at 41 percent support among registered voters, with Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson at seven percent and Green Party nominee Jill Stein at two percent.

In a two-way match-up, Clinton and Trump each got 46 percent among registered voters.

While some other national surveys show Clinton with a lead, poll averages show a low, single-digit margin.

Gender, race and education were clear markers between the two candidates.

Men back Trump by 54 percent to 55 percent of women who said they support Clinton, the poll showed. Some 53 percent of white voters back Trump, compared to 37 percent for Clinton, while non-white voters back her 69 percent to 19 percent for her Republican rival.

Trump is ahead of Clinton by more than four to one among white men without college degrees, a gap that narrows for white women without college degrees and college-educated white men.

Among college educated white women, Clinton leads Trump in the poll by 57 percent to 32 percent.

The two candidates are still grappling with high negativity among voters.

Around 39 percent of registered voters see Clinton favorably, compared to 57 percent who have an unfavorable impression.

For Trump, 38 percent had a positive impression and 57 percent a negative one, a rating five points lower than it was prior to the two parties’ national conventions in July.