Yahoo News Obama to host drive-in rally in first 2020 campaign event for Biden
Barack Obama will debut on the 2020 campaign trail with a drive-in rally in Philadelphia, where polls show Joe Biden almost tied with Donald Trump.
The rally on Wednesday will be the first in-person appearance made by the former president for Mr Biden, who holds a slim lead over Mr Trump in Pennsylvania, a battleground state that could decide the election outcome.
Aides close to Mr Obama say the Democrat will tell supporters at an outdoor venue in the state’s biggest city, Philadelphia, to vote early for Mr Biden and other Democratic candidates.
The campaign appearance comes on the heels of Mr Trump, who held a rally in the city of Erie on Tuesday night, as he also made a last minute pitch to supporters.
Biden's campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon, has warned that the election could be more competitive than opinion polls suggest, with uncertainties about the Democrat’s leads in more than a dozen states.
"As president Obama has said, this is an all-hands-on-deck moment, and he looks forward to hitting the trail in person, socially distanced, since we're just two weeks out from the most important election of our lifetimes," an aide for Mr Obama said to Reuters.
Mr Obama’s intervention on Wednesday will be seen as an asset this close to election day, having already helped the Biden campaign reach younger audiences through virtual events.
"Especially in Philadelphia, he is the ultimate draw and still a great standard-bearer for Democrats," said former Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter to the Associated Press.
"I think he helps remind people what's at stake, what being president is about, what things could be like," he added.
Mr Biden, who has visited his birthplace of Pennsylvania more than any other during the campaign, will hope to avoid losing to Mr Trump there, as did Hillary Clinton in 2016.
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