Obama hits campaign trail for Harris

WASHINGTON: Former US president Barack Obama will lend some star power to Kamala Harris´s campaign in the must-win swing state of Pennsylvania Thursday as Democrats struggle to move the dial against Donald Trump.

America´s first Black president will lead a rally in the steel city of Pittsburgh, his first stop on a monthlong tour of battleground states, to urge people to cast early votes for November´s nail-biting election.

Harris will head to yet more swing states, Nevada and Arizona, to reach out to Latino voters, but the White House said the vice president had also taken part in a virtual briefing on Hurricane Milton, which crashed into Florida overnight.

Republican former president Trump stepped up his criticisms of Harris and President Joe Biden over their response to the hurricane -- attacks that Biden has branded an “onslaught of lies.”

“Hopefully on January 20 you´re going to have somebody who´s really going to help you,” Trump said in a video message to the people of Florida, where he lives.

Trump´s campaign also bashed Harris on the economy after US consumer inflation cooled last month, though slightly less than expected. High prices for Americans are one of the biggest issues in the election.

“Kamala Harris´s terrible economic policies continue to hit the American people where it hurts,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.