Trump & Clinton On Their Way To The 'Must Win' State Of Pennsylvania
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- If you need any further evidence that Pennsylvania is a battleground state in the 2016 presidential election, consider this -- both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are heading to Pittsburgh just as the general election campaign gets started.
"When he says, 'Let's Make America Great Again,' that's code for let's take America backwards," says Clinton.
"The last thing we need is Hillary Clinton in the White House or an extension of the Obama disaster," retorts Trump.
Trump, the first businessman nominee who has not held elected office since Wendell Wilkie in 1940, and Clinton, the first woman ever to win a major party nomination, will campaign in Pittsburgh, starting this weekend.
Sources tell KDKA political editor Jon Delano that Trump will hold a rally at one of the hangars at Pittsburgh International Airport Saturday afternoon, while Clinton is expected in Pittsburgh on Tuesday morning.
Here's why Pennsylvania is a must-win state for both Trump and Clinton.
Right now, the blue Democratic states likely to vote for Clinton add up to 201 electoral votes of the 270 needed to win the presidency.
The red Republican states for Trump add up to 164 electoral votes.
Both candidates are far short of the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
KDKA political editor Jon Delano has identified 13 states that are up for grabs, states that could go either way: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The largest such state is Florida with 29 electoral votes, but the second largest with 20 electoral votes is Pennsylvania.
That's why both candidates are on their way to Pittsburgh.
And don't be surprised if both candidates ratchet up their rhetoric.
Only two Republicans have ever won the White House without Pennsylvania, and the last Democrat to win without this state was way back in 1948.
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