Press. voanews.com
U.S. Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton attended two campaign events Friday in
Florida as she tried to extend her newfound lead over opponent Donald Trump in
a state that is key to a White House win in November.
Florida, a state
rich with electoral votes that decide the election, recently favored Trump. As
a new Mason-Dixon poll taken in the state showed, though, Clinton has taken a
4-percentage-point lead there over the real estate mogul since Monday's
presidential debate.
Clinton
victories in Florida and Pennsylvania would make it difficult for the
Republican candidate to capture the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the
presidential election. During stops in Fort Pierce and Coral Springs, Clinton
touted her plans to expand national service opportunities by tripling the size
of AmeriCorps, growing the Peace Corps and creating a new national service
reserve program.
In Fort Pierce,
Clinton told supporters America is at its best when people work together, not
when they take the "strongman approach" favored by Trump. Trump
supporters also attended the Fort Pierce rally and made their presence known
with chants of "Lock her up" and "Hillary for prison."
Clinton's visit
to Florida came amid signs of disorganization in Trump's campaign in the
Sunshine State. An aide who became the face of Trump's campaign in the state
announced her resignation after becoming disillusioned with his campaign.
"It's clear
the campaign is now going into a direction I am no longer comfortable with, and
I have decided to move on," Healy Baumgardner said in a statement. Baumgardner's
announcement came on the heels of days of controversy surrounding Trump's
remarks about the weight of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. Trump made a
campaign stop Friday in the battleground state of Michigan amid questions about
his charitable foundation.
If New York
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman determines that Trump's foundation raised
donations in violation of the law, he could prohibit the charity from seeking
future donations or order Trump to return money that was previously raised.