tampa, fla.<u+2014>republican presidential nominee donald trump began the last furious dash of his 2016 presidential campaign by arguing he will challenge democratic rival hillary clinton in new states and attacking her surrogates in two must-win states for his campaign. mr. trump<u+2019>s rally at the florida state fairgrounds was followed by an event at the wilmington, n.c. airport, where he was joined by his wife, melania, and gov. pat mccrory. mr. trump was also scheduled to address his supporters in reno., nev., and in denver. on sunday, the trump campaign<u+2019>s schedule includes stops in sioux city, iowa; minnesota; and the pittsburgh suburbs. mr. trump said saturday that his campaign is making inroads in minnesota, a state that hasn<u+2019>t backed a republican since 1972. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re going into what they used to call democrat strongholds where we<u+2019>re now either tied or ahead,<u+201d> mr. trump said. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re going to minnesota.<u+2026>we<u+2019>re going to colorado, where we<u+2019>re doing phenomenally. we<u+2019>re doing well in places that they don<u+2019>t believe.<u+201d> even if he carries florida, north carolina and all the states 2012 gop nominee mitt romney won, mr. trump must flip more states into his column that barack obama took to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win the white house. a minneapolis star tribune poll last month showed mrs. clinton leading minnesota by 8 percentage points, and neither campaign has aired advertising in the state. in colorado, mr. trump hasn<u+2019>t led in the past 13 public polls, though one was a tie. on saturday, the trump campaign canceled a planned sunday rally in wisconsin, which was to take place 30 minutes before kickoff of the green bay packers game. capital journal is wsj.com<u+2019>s home for election 2016 news. though mr. trump predicted he would win here, florida<u+2019>s early-voting turnout is split nearly evenly between registered democrats and registered republicans. the percentage of hispanic voters who have cast early ballots is higher than at the same point in the 2012 campaign, which democratic operatives in the state believe will benefit mrs. clinton. mr. trump on saturday morning focused instead on mrs. clinton<u+2019>s documented trouble in energizing african-american voters in the same numbers as mr. obama has in the past two elections. after recognizing a pair of supporters holding signs reading <u+201c>blacks for trump,<u+201d> the republican nominee touted his support from florida<u+2019>s cuban community. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s turning out to be the story of this election, the african-american vote,<u+201d> mr. trump said. <u+201c>and by the way, as you know, the cubans just endorsed me.<u+201d> last month in miami, mr. trump was endorsed by the bay of pigs veterans association, an organization of cuban veterans. mr. trump also laced what has become his standard attacks on mrs. clinton with a critique of her surrogates , including hip-hop star jay z, who performed at a friday night rally in cleveland. mr. trump, whose own campaign has been dogged by his use of profane language from a 2005 videotape in which he described how he groped women without their permission, condemned the lyrics jay z used in rallying clinton supporters. <u+201c>i actually like jay z, but the language last night, whooooo, i was thinking, <u+2018>maybe i<u+2019>ll just try it,<u+2019><u+201d> mr. trump said. <u+201c>should i use that language? could you imagine if i said that? he used every word in the book.<u+201d> mr. trump also attacked mrs. clinton<u+2019>s connection with anthony weiner, the disgraced former congressman whose estranged wife is top clinton aide huma abedin. the fbi is examining a trove of emails found on mr. weiner<u+2019>s computer that fbi director james comey has told members of congress may include some connected to the bureau<u+2019>s investigation into mrs. clinton<u+2019>s private email server. <u+201c>can you imagine, anthony weiner probably has every classified email ever sent to her,<u+201d> mr. trump said. <u+201c>and knowing this guy, he probably studied them, in between using his machine for other purposes.<u+201d> and though he declared he would win the election tuesday, mr. trump offered his supporters the usual caveat that the system is <u+201c>rigged<u+201d> against him, starting with the media. <u+201c>when this is all over with, i<u+2019>m going to sit down with the dishonest media, and i<u+2019>m going to have an honest talk,<u+201d> mr. trump said. <u+201c>i<u+2019>ll say, why, what is she going to do? she<u+2019>s a dishonest person. she has no energy.<u+201d> write to reid j. epstein at reid.epstein@wsj.com and michael c. bender at mike.bender@wsj.com
donald trump says he can challenge hillary clinton in new states - wsj
reid j. epstein michael c. bender