Don vows Sunshine success
‘I’m going to win Fla.’
The presidential candidates zeroed in on the crucial swing state of Florida on Tuesday, with Donald Trump making his fifth appearance there in three days and Hillary Clinton holding rallies Tuesday and Wednesday.
The GOP nominee appeared in Sanford and launched familiar attacks on the media and Clinton, predicting victory in the Sunshine State despite lagging in the state’s polls.
“In 14 days, we’re going to win the state of Florida. The lines at the voting booths [for early balloting] are record. I noticed a lot of people on line, they’re wearing the red [Make America Great Again] hats . . . buttons all over the place,” he said, blaming his poll numbers on the press.
“These are the most corrupt people. When they interview people standing on the line and they [voters] say, ‘Trump! Trump! Trump!’ they say: Let’s get out of here, there’s no news,” said Trump, sporting a camouflage hat with his logo.
Trump also pledged to bolster the government’s investment in the space program — a boon to the Space Coast of Florida.
Clinton, meanwhile, appeared in Coconut Grove, slamming Trump for refusing to say he’d concede the election if she wins.
She also joked that the former reality-TV star would have called George Washington a “loser” for not demanding to be king.
Clinton has a slim 3.1 percentage point lead over Trump in the latest RealClearPolitics average of Florida polls, 46.8 percent to 43.7 percent.
About 1.6 million people have already voted in Florida, which has 29 electoral votes and is considered a must-win state for Trump.
“There is no reasonable way Trump can get to 270 [Electoral College votes, the number needed to win] without Florida. So it’s essential,” said Larry Sabato, a political-science professor at the University of Virginia.
Numbers released Tuesday by Florda’s Division of Elections show nearly 300,000 voters went to early-voting sites Monday, the first day it was offered in 50 counties. Another 1.3 million voters have mailed in ballots.
So far, Republicans have a slight edge in early Sunshine State voting. Numbers show more than 665,000 Republicans have cast ballots, compared with more than 658,000 Democrats. Nearly 251,000 voters with no party affiliation have also voted.
As of Monday morning, Republicans had cast fewer than 42 percent of the absentee ballots. Democrats had cast about 40 percent.
During the same time period in 2012, Republicans were ahead of Democrats by 5 points.