TV titans Trump, Oprah go head to head on
U.S. campaign trail
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[November 02, 2018]
By Joseph Ax and Amy Tennery
(Reuters) - Two former TV stars and
political opposites - media mogul Oprah Winfrey and President Donald
Trump - took to the U.S. campaign trail on Thursday, five days before
elections that will determine whether Trump's Republicans retain control
of Congress.
Winfrey appeared in Georgia to back Democrat Stacey Abrams, who is vying
to become the United States' first black female governor.
"I'm here today to support a change maker," the movie star and former TV
talk show host told a crowd in Cobb County, northwest of Atlanta. "She
is dynamic. She is so inspired and inspiring."
Trump, who gained nationwide fame as star of the reality show "The
Apprentice," was in the second day of an 11-rally tour of states with
competitive U.S. Senate races.
He appeared at a rally in Missouri on Thursday night with Republican
Josh Hawley, who is trying to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Claire
McCaskill in Tuesday's elections, and called on voters to support what
he termed "common-sense Republicans."
"This election is a choice between Republican results and radical
resistance," Trump said as he talked up the economy and gave credit for
its strength to Republicans in Washington.
The contest between Abrams, a former state lawmaker, and Republican
Brian Kemp has become a flashpoint in the battle over voter access. As
Georgia's secretary of state, Kemp oversees the Southern state's
elections.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2018/Nov/02/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
Georgia has one of the country's strictest voter ID laws, measures
Republicans say are needed to ensure no one votes illegally. Democrats
contend the statutes unfairly block poor people and minority group
members from voting.
Voting rights groups sued Kemp, saying his office had inappropriately
stopped processing more than 50,000 voter registration applications,
many from black voters, to improve his chances of winning. Other groups
have challenged voting restrictions in states including North Dakota,
Arkansas and Ohio.
HEALTHCARE FOCUS
Abrams said improving the state's healthcare system was at the top of
the list of issues she wanted to tackle if elected, a message that lined
up with Democrats' national focus as they seek to gain control of at
least one chamber of Congress, which would give them the ability to
oppose Trump's agenda.
"The Republican solution has been nothing," Abrams said on Thursday. "It
has been absolutely nothing."
The embrace of healthcare is a sharp shift for Democrats, who were wary
of defending Obamacare in previous elections when the law that created
it was unpopular with many voters.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 2,673 Americans conducted Oct. 1 through
Oct. 28 found healthcare was the top issue for Democratic and
independent voters heading into the elections, and third in priority
among Republicans, behind immigration and the economy.
Democrats are favored to flip the 23 seats they need to secure a
majority in the House of Representatives, although they are considered a
long shot to pick up the two seats needed to capture the Senate.
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![](../images/110218pics/news_e11.jpg)
Oprah Winfrey takes part in a town hall meeting with Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams ahead of the mid-term election
in Marietta, Georgia, U.S. November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Aluka
Berry
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
TRUMP STUMPS
Vulnerable Democratic senators in states Trump won in 2016 are also
focusing on healthcare. Among them is Missouri's McCaskill, who has
criticized Republican challenger Hawley, the state attorney general,
for joining a lawsuit filed by Republican attorneys general seeking
to overturn Obamacare.
Trump vowed during his campaign to repeal Obamacare, formally known
as the Affordable Care Act, and he fumed when the effort failed.
Democrats warn that if Republicans keep control of Congress, people
could lose coverage for pre-existing health conditions and other
protections afforded by the law.
On Friday, Trump will travel to West Virginia, which he won by more
than 40 percentage points in 2016. The state's Democratic senator,
Joe Manchin, has attacked his opponent, Republican state Attorney
General Patrick Morrisey, for participating in the same lawsuit
Hawley joined.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, appearing with embattled Democratic
Senator Heidi Heitkamp at a campaign event in North Dakota, took up
the battle cry on Obamacare protections.
"One-hundred-thirty million Americans have that label stamped on
their record: pre-existing condition," he said. "This fight is
personal."
'FEARMONGERING'
Trump, who will not be on the ballot next week, came under fire from
Democrats and even some fellow Republicans on Thursday for an online
video ad backing Republican candidates that attempted to link
Democrats and immigrants to violent crime.
The ad featured courtroom footage of Luis Bracamontes - an illegal
immigrant from Mexico convicted in the 2014 killings of two police
officers in Sacramento, California - saying in accented English he
would kill more cops. A narrator asks: "Who else would Democrats let
in?"
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2018/Nov/02/images/ads/current/brickey_lda_061314.png)
Robert Reich, who served as secretary of labor in the Clinton
administration, called the ad "desperate and vile ... They've
resorted to fearmongering."
(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Amy Tennery in New York; Additional
reporting by Maria Caspani in Atlanta, David Morgan in Pittsburgh,
Jilian Mincer in New York, Daniel Trotta in Tucson, Ariz. and Steve
Holland in Columbia, Mo;; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter
Cooney)
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