President Trump and former President Barack Obama are scheduled to headline dueling rallies in Pennsylvania Saturday night in support of their respective party nominees for governor (Mastriano and Shapiro) and U.S. Senate (Oz and Fetterman). Joe Biden is scheduled to appear at the Obama rally.
Each camp is aiming to turn out their base, with Trump’s rally being held in the southwestern town of Latrobe (near Pittsburgh) while Obama’s rally is set for the Democrat stronghold of Philadelphia.
Trump’s rally announcement:
DNC press release:
The time and location for the Democrat rally as not been released yet.
The White House confirmed the DNC announcement according to NBC’s Caroline Kenny, “WH: President Biden will join former President Obama in Philadelphia for a rally on Saturday evening alongside gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro and senatorial candidate John Fetterman”
Even the media knows Obama is the top dog, “It’s going to be a big Saturday for politics in the keystone state. Philly: Obama rally with Biden for Dems Fetterman and Shapiro. Latrobe: Trump rally for Republicans Oz and Mastriano”
“DNC confirms: Obama and Biden will be in Philadelphia Saturday to campaign with Fetterman and Shapiro. Former president Trump has a rally in Latrobe that day.”
Politico reported Monday that desperate Democrats have turned to Obama to save them from electoral disaster next week as Biden is too toxic to voters, noting however, that some Democrats remember Obama’s disastrous record in his own midterms (excerpt):
Democrats turn to Obama to rescue them from a midterm shellackingWith his approval ratings sagging, Joe Biden is largely on the sidelines. Into the void has stepped his former boss, by far the party’s top surrogate.
…If anyone’s looking to be rescued in this final stretch before the midterms, it’s the Democratic Party. And it’s turning, yet again, to the 44th president to save them from freefall.
With Joe Biden’s poll numbers stuck in the low 40s, the sitting president has largely been absent from the trail in the final weeks of the campaign, opting for a mix of speeches from the Washington area and headlining fundraisers. Into the void stepped his former boss, who reminded crowds over the weekend that he remains — far and away — his party’s most effective surrogate.
Nobody is more in demand than Obama. His team was inundated with requests to speak, with Democrats imploring him to cut brief get-out-the-vote videos and congressional leaders leaning on him to headline fundraisers with them…
Even as he stars as the party’s biggest draw and chief base motivator, there’s an unmistakable fear that even he can’t prevent what may end up being inevitable bloodletting on Nov. 8. Some Democrats also contend that for all his considerable talents to drive an argument, even Obama has struggled in the past to translate his own popularity and successes onto others in his party. Democrats suffered heavy losses in both midterms of Obama’s presidency.