Clinton Throws Support Down-Ballot

President Obama, other top Dems work swing races in hopes of turning House, Senate
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 23, 2016 1:07 PM CDT
Clinton Throws Support Down-Ballot
This photo taken Oct. 8, 2016, shows US Senate candidate Katie McGinty delivering remarks at a rally in support of Hillary Clinton at Scranton High School in Scranton, Pa.   (Christopher Dolan / The Citizens' Voice via AP)

With Donald Trump's poll numbers sinking, and many analysts predicting a landslide will sweep the first major party female candidate into the Oval Office, Hillary Clinton has the luxury of being able to turn her attention down-ballot and on turning red and purple states blue, reports the Washington Post. As Clinton campaigned Saturday in Pennsylvania, she played up Katie McGinty, who's trying to unseat GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, calling her "exactly the kind of partner we need in the Senate." She's thrown $1 million into Senate and governor's races in Indiana and Missouri, two states she is unlikely to carry, and her campaign manager estimates the campaign has spent $100 million with the DNC to help other Democrats out. "As we’re traveling in these last 17 days, we’re going to be emphasizing the importance of electing Democrats down the ballot," Clinton said Saturday.

She's got other top-tier help, with President Obama heading to Nevada to stump for not only Clinton, but also the Democrat looking to keep Harry Reid's Senate seat in the party, notes the AP. It's part of what Politico reports is an unprecedented push down-ballot for a sitting president, with Obama readying about 150 endorsements in 20 states—ranging from members of the Senate and House to a candidate for the Pennsylvania state supreme court. The White House has started dribbling them out, and is "focused mostly on swing districts for maximum impact," says the White House political director. Meanwhile, with Trump struggling, the Democrats and taking the opportunity to hit Republicans—like Marco Rubio, who now finds himself in a tightening Florida Senate race—for standing by their man. "How can you call [Trump] a ‘con artist’ and ‘dangerous,’ and object to all the controversial things he says, and then say, ‘But I’m still going to vote for him’??" Obama asked a Florida rally. "C’mon, man." (More Hillary Clinton stories.)

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