Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Kaine Announces Sarasota Rally

SARASOTA, FL — While President Barack Obama stumps in Orlando Friday to help put Hillary Clinton in the White House, her vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine will also pay the Sunshine State a visit. Kaine has two rallies scheduled – one in Tallahassee and another in Sarasota.

Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia, will make a 1:45 p.m. Oct. 28 stop at Florida State University’s Oglesby Union with Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords. After that appearance, Clinton’s running mate will head to Sarasota’s Municipal Auditorium for a 6:15 p.m. early vote rally.

Clinton was ahead in national polling by 4.2 percent Wednesday, according to RealClear Politics. That number was down from 5.1 percentage points on Tuesday and 6.1 percentage points on Monday. The website gave Clinton a 1.6 percentage point lead on Wednesday in the Sunshine State. A new poll released by Bloomberg, however, said Republican Donald Trump was up by 2.

While Clinton remains ahead in national polling data, her lead has been steadily declining over the past few days as more revelations come out of recent WikiLeaks email dumps. The emails that were allegedly written by or sent to Clinton’s staff members have created problems for the campaign as it enters its final days. Among some of the revelations to come out of the WikiLeaks dumps are supposed excerpts from her Wall Street speeches. One email reportedly noted Clinton as saying, “you need to have a private and public position on policy.” Another spoke about open borders and open trade.

The WikiLeaks dump has also brought a $12 million donation from Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to the Clinton Foundation under scrutiny. The Clinton campaign has denounced the WikiLeaks email release, saying the hack represents an effort by the Russian government to influence the American election.

The veracity of the FBI’s probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state has also been called into question. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a friend of Hillary and Bill Clinton, had funneled thousands of dollars into the state Senate campaign of Jill McCabe, the wife of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. The deputy director was responsible for providing oversight on the investigation related to Hillary Clinton’s possible mishandling of classified information on her email server.

FBI director James Comey announced in July that his agency was recommending no criminal charges against Clinton. The FBI found no clear evidence of intention to violate laws related to the handing of classified information, Comey said. Even so, “there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”

Trump has also faced growing scandals as Election Day nears. His numbers in national polls dropped sharply following the three presidential debates and the release of a video that showed him making lewd comments about women. Although the video was about a decade old, the New York businessman has also been fending off allegations from women who say he touched them inappropriately.

Tickets for Kaine’s Oct. 28 Florida appearances are available on the Clinton campaign website. In Sarasota, doors to the 801 N. Tamiami Trail auditorium are set to open around 4:15 p.m. The rally’s scheduled start time is 6:15 p.m., according to the campaign. To RSVP for free tickets to the Sarasota event, visit the Clinton website.

Image via United States Senate