Obama summons Mich. voters

Trump makes a play for Pennsylvania with an evening rally

DETROIT — Calling Joe Biden his “brother,” Barack Obama on Saturday accused Donald Trump of failing to take the coronavirus pandemic and the presidency seriously as Democrats leaned on America’s first Black president to energize Black voters in battleground Michigan on the final weekend of the 2020 campaign.

Obama, the 44th president, and Biden, his vice president, who wants to be the 46th, held drive-in rallies in Flint and Detroit, predominantly Black cities where strong turnout will be essential to swing the longtime Democratic state to Biden’s column after Trump won it in 2016.

“Three days until the most important election of our lifetime, and that includes mine, which was pretty important,” Obama said, urging Democrats to get to the polls.

The memories of Trump’s win in Michigan and the rest of the Upper Midwest are still searing in the minds of many Democrats during this closing stretch before Tuesday’s election.

As of Saturday morning, nearly 90 million voters had already cast ballots nationwide, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Tens of millions more will vote by the time polls close on Tuesday night.

Trump made an aggressive play for pivotal Pennsylvania, focusing largely on his white, working-class base.

At an evening rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump announced that he had issued a memorandum that calls on government agencies to determine fracking’s impact on the economy and trade and the costs of banning oil and gas extraction through fracking.

The president has repeatedly charged that Biden will end fracking, a big industry in Pennsylvania and other states, even as the former vice president has said that he does not support a ban on fracking. Biden’s more liberal Democratic primary opponents, including his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, have said they support restrictions on the industry.

“In other words, if one of these maniacs come along and they say, ‘We’re going to end fracking; we’re going to destroy the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,’ you can say, ‘Sorry about that.’” Trump said in announcing his memorandum.

In Michigan, Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat who represents the Flint area, said he had been pressing for a couple of months for Biden or Obama to visit the majority-Black city, where a water crisis that began in 2014 sickened residents. “Showing up matters,” Kildee said. R&B legend Stevie Wonder was to perform at the Biden-Obama rally in Detroit.

Trump isn’t ceding Michigan to Biden. He visited Waterford Township, near Detroit, on Friday and held a rally in the state capital, Lansing, this past week, though the surge in coronavirus cases is clouding his presidency.

With the campaign down to the final days, Trump’s closing sprint includes, in addition to the four stops in Pennsylvania, nearly a dozen events in the final 48 hours across states he carried in 2016.

Biden will close out his campaign Monday in Pennsylvania, the state where he was born and the one he’s visited more than any other.

Andrew Harnik The Associated Press Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, right, and former President Barack Obama greet each other Saturday at a rally in Flint, Mich. They targeted their pitch to Black voters in hopes of reclaiming Michigan.

Alex Brandon The Associated Press President Donald Trump leaves after speaking at a campaign rally Saturday in Newtown, Pa. Trump touted a memorandum he issued in support of fracking, which is important economic activity in Pennsylvania.