Odds stacked against Trump as he campaigns in Florida
Donald Trump is spending his third straight day in Florida where he made six campaign stops on Sunday and Monday. He’s scheduled two more rallies for Tuesday.
Trump desperately needs to win Florida and its 29 electoral votes, but our CBS News Battleground Tracker shows Hillary Clinton is three points ahead there.
Trump entertained a raucous crowd of thousands in Tampa Monday night touting a select group of national polls showing him slightly ahead, reports CBS News correspondent Major Garrett.
“We’re leading, number one!” he said.
Trump is building enthusiasm among supporters by laying out plans for his first days in office and challenging the accuracy of the latest low poll numbers. But in Florida and many other key battleground states, the odds are stacked against him.
He again questioned Clinton’s fitness for office and the FBI probe that cleared her of wrongdoing.
“We have to investigate the investigation, folks... Our system is rigged. She never had a chance of being convicted,” Trump said.
Florida polls show Trump trailing, so before he hit the stage, surrogates practically begged supporters to register, volunteer and vote.
“Hey, all those signs y’all got -- they don’t mean nothing if you don’t vote,” Bobby Bowden said.
“We need these thousands of people to push harder for the next 14 days,” Debbie Cox-Roush said.
“We must double and triple our efforts to make sure Donald Trump gets elected!” Clifton Curry Jr. said.
The evening rally was Trump’s fifth Sunshine State stop of the day, part of a frantic effort to capture 29 crucial electoral votes.
“I think we’re going to win Florida big. I think we’re going to win Florida big,” Trump said at a Palm Beach County roundtable.
At a meeting with Florida farmers, Trump weeded out polls that show he’s facing a big loss to Clinton.
“They call them dark polls, they are phony polls, put out by phony media,” Trump said.
Trump’s campaign also debuted a new nightly web show on Facebook, feeding speculation about a post-election Trump TV network.
He hit other battleground states through talk radio, dismissing new accusations of sexual misconduct.
“One said, he grabbed me on the arm, and she’s a porn star. Now, you know, this one that came out recently. He grabbed me and he grabbed me on the arm. Oh, I’m sure she’s never been grabbed before. And they make it so - it’s all lies,” Trump said on New Hampshire Today.
In another sign the Trump campaign’s confidence may be only skin deep, vice presidential nominee Mike Pence is being dispatched to the reliably Republican state of Utah Wednesday -- a state often considered one of the most Republican in the country, that hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964.