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HAMMOND, Ind. – Former vice president, Joe Biden, launched his blue-collar appeal in a Democratic bastion of Indiana on Friday, praising Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly, of the kind that keeps his promises, put the country in power – have your back in a street fight.
Around the same time, current Vice President Mike Pence rallied his opponent Mike Braun in Indianapolis.
Biden told a crowd of people in Indiana's highly industrialized northwest: "Joe is as good a man as I know," adding that if they grew up in the same neighborhood, they would have been friends.
"I'll tell you why: I know that if I crossed my neighborhood and four guys jumped on me, even if … it would not change anything, Joe would jump and help me," Biden said. .
For Donnelly, the victory in a neck-and-neck race with Republican businessman Braun requires a high turnout in the region, which draws more from the machine politics of the nearby city of Chicago than rural conservatism that prevails elsewhere in the state.
"Northwestern Indiana is a red meat for Joe Donnelly," said Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott. "Eight out of 10 people who show up will vote for Joe Donnelly."
As early votes began in Indiana this week, Biden urged the crowd to stand alongside Donnelly and bring his friends, stating, "There's a time when we need of character in the United States Senate, it is now. "
Three hours south, Mike Pence – the former governor of the state – gathered GOP activists at a fundraising dinner with Braun and Republican National Committee President Ronna McDaniel in Indianapolis .
Pence said the choice between Donnelly and Braun was clear: Braun would support President Donald Trump's program, while Donnelly's re-election would result in an "unprecedented obstruction".
"The truth is that voting for Joe Donnelly is a vote to make Chuck Schumer the president of the US Senate," Pence told a crowd of about 1,000 Republicans crowded into a hotel ballroom. from downtown Indianapolis. "A vote for Joe Donnelly is a vote to make the United States Senate the center of resistance in Washington, DC"
The duels of the vice president and his predecessor have highlighted the high stakes of this battlefield race that could help determine the Senate's control.
Donnelly had a slight advantage in the latest polls, but the race remains in the margin of error. It remains to be seen whether Donnelly's vote against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh could have an impact on the race. Republicans fanned the GOP's outrage against the tactics used by the Democrats to try to block his nomination, which got the better of other Trump races in other states.
"The fact that they are both in the state on the same day is proof that it's a race of one, two or three points with enough undecided voters for the turnout to count." Mike O 'Brien, a former Republican agent who led Governor Eric Holcomb's successful 2016 campaign. The visit of Pence is important, he added, because "there are a thousand people in this room for which we have to work hard during the last 30 days".
Donnelly, the only Democrat in Indiana, won his first Senate election in 2012, winning a large number of votes in northwestern Indiana and the heavily populated Indianapolis region. where he must again do well to maintain his seat.
He won nearly 70% of the vote in Lake County, where Friday's rally took place – his best performance in all counties. It is a place where constituency committee members can be a powerful factor in participation.
"In politics, you always have to show respect, you never want to take someone for granted and it's just a smart way to fail on a win," said Christina Hale, a North American native. Indiana and Democrat candidate for the post of Lieutenant Governor 2016
Throughout the campaign, Donnelly appeared in commercials where he criss-crossed the state in an occasional vehicle, touting his willingness to thwart Liberal Democrats in Congress and "toppling common sense." of Hoosier ".
But Republicans are trying to question this image. They say that he's talking a good game but is ultimately a tool of Senator Schumer.
This is where Biden could help you.
His visit sparked a lot of enthusiasm, particularly because he could be running for president in 2020, McDermott said. Biden, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, also criticized the Democrats for turning his back on Central America. His visit could not only strengthen Donnelly, but also show Biden's willingness to campaign in places largely neglected by Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Some wonder if Donnelly, who has brought few national figures to campaign for him, could have problems. Recently, his campaign began buying airtime from the expensive television market in Chicago, as shown by the Federal Communications Commission's filings.
"I wonder what's going on," said Cam Savage, a Republican consultant who helped Senator Todd Young win the victory in 2016. "They must be underachieving and I guess they're worried. "
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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