Oct. 24-- Oct. 24--Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden returned to his hometown Wednesday morning with a message for the northeastern Pennsylvania voters who gave Donald Trump a shot last time around.
Using well-worn stories of his Scranton childhood, Biden pledged to rebuild the middle class if elected and portrayed the Republican incumbent as lacking empathy for the struggles those Americans face.
"We don't deserve a president who goes out of his way to make life in America harder, crueler, pettier," Biden said of Trump during a speech at the Scranton Cultural Center. "He said he's working for the forgotten American. Well, he forgot about the forgotten American."
Biden's speech was the first half of a political doubleheader in Pennsylvania. Trump addressed a natural gas industry conference in Pittsburgh on Wednesday afternoon.
In the official event that borrowed lines from his campaign rallies, Trump touted rising household income figures and America's role as an energy exporter, saying the country has never been stronger.
"In every action I take, from defending American energy to securing American borders, to ending the endless wars, I am fighting for your interests, your family's and your country's. We're fighting for you," Trump said.
Both candidates are playing to key constituencies in the swing state. While in heavily Democratic Pittsburgh, Trump spoke to a largely friendly crowd of local supporters and industry officials who have been receptive to his focus on reducing regulations. He spoke at the same natural gas conference in 2016 as a candidate.
Trump tallied strong support among voters in western Pennsylvania last time. He'll need voters in the state's reddest section to turn out in force once again as he struggles with suburban voters.
Biden headed to the other end of the state, where political shifts in 2016 aided Trump in becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to win Pennsylvania since 1988. He flipped neighboring Luzerne County, where Biden held a fundraiser Tuesday night, and narrowed the Democratic margin of victory in Lackawanna, home to Scranton.
In that critical region, Biden emphasized his local roots, saying the working-class areas where he grew up in Scranton and later in Delaware deeply shaped his values. He reiterated one of his main campaign themes: Workers no longer have the financial stability they once did, and they deserve the economic security to be able to take care of their families.
"With all due respect, and I've never talked about a president like this, I don't think Donald Trump is capable of understanding that," Biden said. "He doesn't seem to have any sense of empathy at all."
Referencing his oft-used phrase about the "longest walk" a parent has to take -- when they walk to their child's room to say they've lost their job -- Biden said the longest walk Trump's father ever took "was to drop off $400 million in his trust account."
Biden didn't roll out new policy proposals, instead repeating his stance on expanding health care coverage through a public insurance option and expanding education funding for pre-K programs and tuition-free community college. He also talked about climate change, arguing that if the existential threat is handled right, it will be an opportunity to create new, higher-paying jobs.
"These are really big challenges, but they're no bigger than our capacity as Americans," Biden said. "We have to get started thinking big again."
In Pittsburgh, Trump didn't mention any of his Democratic challengers. He did praise the state's Republican congressmen who accompanied him there, including U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, who represents Schuylkill and Carbon counties, as "warriors" defending him against Democratic "witch hunts," and he criticized Pittsburgh-area Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb for not voting with him.
To the energy workers and officials in the crowd, the president highlighted his administration's efforts to speed up permitting timelines and step away from the Paris climate accord.
The international agreement to reduce carbon emissions was a "disaster" that would have hurt American competitiveness, Trump said, reusing a line from when he announced the withdrawal from that agreement: "My job is to represent the people of Pittsburgh, not Paris."
Trump told the crowd he had delivered on his promises to support the energy industry, and that he would continue to do so by pushing for more pipeline approvals.
Washington correspondent Laura Olson can be reached at 202-780-9540 or lolson@mcall.com
