Biden returns to Iowa; Trump plays defense in Mich., Wis.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — When Joe Biden was last in Iowa, his campaign was on verge of collapse and he was soundly trounced in caucuses by a former Indiana mayor nearly 40 years his junior. He returns Friday as Democratic minee, believing he's just days away from becoming president-elect.

Biden's trip reflects growing confidence among Democrats in closing days of campaign. Iowa, which Trump won by 9 points in 2016, is among clutch of GOP-leaning states that Biden is trying to bring back into Democratic column. He'll also swing through Wisconsin on Friday while his running mate, Kamala Harris, courts voters in Texas, a longtime GOP bastion that Democrats insist is in play this year.

Trump, meanwhile, is playing defense in Michigan and Wisconsin, states he won four years ago. president and Biden will both be in Minnesota, a longtime Democratic state that Trump is trying to flip.

arc of Biden's rise is eclipsed only by that challenges faced by Trump — whose confidence in his reelection was dealt a devastating blow by pandemic this spring, with public health and ecomic crises still rearing ir he in days leing up to close of polling.

With four days until election and more than 80 million votes alrey cast, time is running out for Trump and Biden to change shape of race. Biden is leing most national polls and has a narrow vant in critical battlegrounds that could decide race.

That's why both men zeroed in on Florida on Thursday. While Biden has a path to victory without critical battleground state, Trump's reelection bid would almost certainly be blocked if he loses re.

“If Florida goes blue, it’s over,” Biden told supporters Thursday.

Friday marks beginning of critical final stretch before election. Trump’s closing sprint to Election Day also includes three stops in Pennsylvania on Saturday and nearly a dozen events in final 48 hours across states he carried in 2016.

After Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota on Friday, Biden will hit Michigan on Saturday, where he’ll hold a joint rally with former President Barack Obama.

Biden has held fewer events in a d to restrictions in place across country to prevent spre of coronavirus. virus has killed more than 227,000 people in United States, and cases are surging across country, threatening an ecomic recovery Trump h aimed to champion.

Trump on Thursday celebrated a new federal estimate that ecomy grew at a stunning 33.1% annual rate in July-September quarter — by far largest quarterly gain on record — making up ground from its epic plunge in spring, when eruption of coronavirus closed businesses and threw tens of millions out of work.

“So gl this great GDP number came out before vember 3rd,” Trump tweeted, predicting a dire reversal if Biden is elected.

But ecomists warned that ecomy is alrey weakening again and facing renewed threats as confirmed viral cases surge, hiring has slowed and federal stimulus help has mostly run out.

Biden said, “ recovery is slowing if t stalling, and recovery that is happening is helping those at top but leaving tens of millions of working families and small businesses behind.”

Biden’s running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, was set to campaign across Texas Friday, aiming to chip into Republicans’ historic vant in diversifying and increasingly competitive state.

Trump is banking on local news cover of his rallies to overcome a substantial vertising deficit stemming from a late cash crunch. Biden and his allies are outspending Trump and his backers by more than 3-to-1 in Florida — about $23 million to about $7 million — in final push to Election Day, according to data from tracking firm Kantar/CMAG.

Biden, meanwhile, is pouring tens of millions of dollars into a torrent of online vertising that will deliver his closing mess of presidential campaign, highlighting his promise to govern for all Americans while blasting Trump’s handling of coronavirus pandemic.

“I will work as hard for those who don’t support me as those who do,” Biden says in one of digital s, which took over mas of YouTube Thursday. “That’s job of a president — duty to care for everyone.”

How much exactly Biden will spend is unclear. His campaign says it is putting a “mid-eight-figure” dollar amount behind over 100 different s, which means y could be spending as little as $25 million — but potentially much more.

s will run on social media platforms including Instagram and Facebook, streaming services such as Hulu and music applications like Pandora.

Republican National Committee, meanwhile, launched its closing mess to voters Thursday, t mentioning Trump, in an apparent aim to help GOP candidates up and down ballot with a focus on tritional Republican messs around lowering taxes and health care.

aftereffects of Hurricane Zeta were holding back voters at a number of polling places in rrn Florida and rrn Georgia that lost power. In Douglas County, in Atlanta’s western suburbs, all six polling locations were without power, as were county offices.

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Miller reported from Washington and Jaffe from Tampa, Florida. Associated Press writers Tamara Lush and Aamer Mhani in Tampa, Florida, Michelle Price in Bullhe City, Kathleen Ronayne in Phoenix, and Will Weissert and Brian Slodysko in Washington contributed to this report.

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AP’s vance Voting guide brings you facts about voting early, by mail or absentee from each state: https://interactives.ap.org/vance-voting-2020/ .