Like thousands of other Americans, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton abruptly upended their plans Thursday in Florida, where Hurricane Matthew threatened to wreak havoc on final-stretch presidential campaigning in a critical swing state.
The campaigns rushed to move staff and volunteers, close offices and cancel events in the path of the storm. And as many Floridians heeded calls to evacuate, both candidates began the delicate task of pursuing votes during a crisis.
Clinton’s campaign asked the state for more time to register voters — a request Florida Gov. Rick Scott rejected — and the Trump team pulled its negative TV ads.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of your family,” Trump said in an unusually restrained statement. “Please stay safe.”
Clinton tweeted: “Hurricane Matthew is a major storm. ... Stay safe Florida.”
Kelly supports who?
Sean Hannity has hurled what many of his Fox News Channel viewers would consider an insult at colleague Megyn Kelly: He accused her of being a Clinton supporter.
Hannity reacted by Twitter on Wednesday night after Kelly had a segment on her show about the presidential candidates tightly controlling press access. She noted that Trump “will go on Hannity and pretty much only Hannity and will not venture out to unsafe spaces these days.”
Hannity responded on Twitter, writing “u should be mad at @HillaryClinton. Clearly you support her. And @realDonaldTrump did talk to u.” When another Twitter user told Hannity he should stand by his colleagues, the host said, “Sure. When they stand by me.”
Kelly had no response to Hannity on social media.
Letter decries Trump
More than 30 former Republican members of Congress issued a scathing open letter Thursday announcing their opposition to Trump and urging fellow Republicans to deny him the White House.
The group recounts the GOP presidential candidate’s long list of insults and “lies,” and says his “disgraceful candidacy is indefensible.”
“As Republican members of Congress, we took pride in representing a political party that stood for honest and principled public leadership in which the American people could place their trust,” they wrote in an open letter.
“Sadly, our party’s nominee this year is a man who makes a mockery of the principles and values we have cherished and which we sought to represent in Congress.”
Unbalanced coverage
The three biggest cable news networks spent more time covering live Trump rallies than they did for Clinton in September, with the widest disparity at Fox News Channel.
A study released by the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America said Fox aired 7 hours, 32 minutes of coverage from Republican Trump events, compared with 3 hours, 25 minutes for Clinton, the Democratic candidate.
It was much closer at CNN (5:18 Trump, 5:04 Clinton) and MSNBC (5:48 Trump, 5:14 Clinton).