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Biden and Harris head for Republican strongholds as they try to sway voters a week before the election

Trump is staying focused on the so-called “blue wall” states that he flipped in 2016: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

JOE BIDEN AND Kamala Harris are targeting Republican strongholds a week before the US election.

Biden is travelling to Georgia which has not supported a Democratic nominee for president since 1992 and later in the week will visit Iowa which President Donald Trump won comfortably in 2016.

Harris, Biden’s vice presidential running mate, is heading to Arizona and Texas where Republicans have not lost an election for a statewide office since 1994.

The aggressive schedule is a sign of confidence by the Biden team, which is trying to stretch the electoral map and open up more paths to 270 electoral college votes.

But after Democrats flirted with Republican territory in 2016, only to lose those states as well as their traditional Midwestern strongholds, Biden’s campaign is mindful of overreaching.

The former vice president will also visit in the coming days Wisconsin, Michigan, and Florida.

Georgia, where Biden will make two stops today, has increasingly become a draw for Democrats in recent years, as turnout increases among black voters and the Atlanta suburbs tilt away from the Republicans.

2.56278595 PA Graphics PA Graphics

“If this was the Georgia of 2008, 2012 I think there’s no way we would have seen a Biden come this late,” said Nse Ufot, chief executive officer of the New Georgia Project, which aims to increase voter registration, especially among young people and minorities.

“It’s a loud signal and acknowledgement of Georgia as a battleground state.”

Trump is staying focused on the so-called “blue wall” states that he flipped in 2016: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where he will return today to hit West Salem just three days after holding a Janesville rally.

While Biden rarely travels to more than one state per day, the president has maintained a whirlwind schedule, crisscrossing the country and making the argument that he built a booming economy before the coronavirus pandemic upended it.

His latest swing could be a victory lap after the Senate yesterday approved the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett and gave conservatives a commanding, 6-3 advantage on the Supreme Court.

Trump has sought to use the vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last month to animate conservative evangelical and Catholic voters to his candidacy, but the high court fight has been overshadowed by concerns over the coronavirus with cases surging.

Biden, meanwhile, is hoping to lift Democrats running for Senate in Georgia and Iowa with this travel plans.

He planned to unveil his closing message during a speech today in Warm Springs, Georgia, where natural hot springs offered President Franklin Delano Roosevelt comfort as he battled polio and governed a nation weathering the Great Depression and the Second World War.

The former vice president’s campaign says his appearance will bookend his visit earlier this month to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, when Mr Biden used the site of the bloody Civil War battle to issue a call for bipartisanship and putting country ahead of party.

Today, he will try to evoke Roosevelt’s New Deal sensitivities while promising to restore the nation’s character.

“This is our opportunity to leave the dark, angry politics of the past four years behind us,” Biden declares in a 60-second closing ad airing on national cable channels and 16 states his campaign considers battlegrounds.

Both campaigns focused Monday on Pennsylvania, with Trump drawing thousands of largely mask-less supporters to rallies while Biden popped just over the border from his home in Delaware to greet a small group of supporters outside a campaign field office in Chester.

Biden declared: “Bottom line is Donald Trump is the worst possible person to lead us through this pandemic.”

Trump countered that his Democratic challenger would impose unnecessary shutdowns.

“It’s a choice between a Trump boom or a Biden lockdown,” the president said at a rally in Allentown.

With more than a third of the expected ballots in the election already cast, it could become increasingly challenging for Trump and Biden to reshape the race.

Biden is leading in most national polls and has an advantage, though narrower, in many key battlegrounds.

The campaign’s final week is colliding with deepening concerns about the Covid crisis.

Trump is anxious for voters to focus on other issues such as the economy.

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    Mute Lance Chancer
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    Apr 29th 2018, 7:42 AM

    Can we be very clear here that AIB are talking about bonuses in respect of executives .. not the front line staff.. and yet again it will be the front line staff that will take all the flack the backlash and all the hurtful comments from the public when they are just trying to do their job .. believe me I know !

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    Mute kissmyarse
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    Apr 29th 2018, 8:08 AM

    @Lance Chancer: are you one of the executives Lance

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    Mute Igot Noname
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    Apr 29th 2018, 9:45 AM

    @kissmyarse: In all fairness, it sounds more like he is front line staff. Why would you think he is an executive if what he is saying is that it’s not fair that it’s the front line staff who get all the crap.

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    Mute kissmyarse
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    Apr 29th 2018, 3:31 PM

    @Igot Noname: your a very clever boy

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    Mute Igot Noname
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    Apr 29th 2018, 4:12 PM

    @kissmyarse: i’ll go all mad and assume you actually meant to write you’re and not your but at the same time i might not even be that clever and you meant i own a very clever boy

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    Mute kissmyarse
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    Apr 29th 2018, 6:50 PM

    @Igot Noname:

    Look I wish you well, i am not here to be nasty enjoy the rest of your evening

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    Mute Jamie Jj Tobin
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    Apr 29th 2018, 7:39 AM

    My Bonus at the end of the week is called my pay cheque … If i don’t meet my targets or preform well i risk loosing it…. So on top of their well paid jobs these greedy people want even more just to do their job…. Wow, i don’t know how the rest of us get out of bed with out the incentive of a big bonus. .

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    Mute Johnny Mason
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    Apr 29th 2018, 8:58 AM

    @Jamie Jj Tobin: My bonus is just receiving payment for my work in the Building Industry on most occasions we have to chase down the client to get some funds

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    Mute Paul P O'Sullivan
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    Apr 29th 2018, 9:05 AM

    @Jamie Jj Tobin: The best need to be well remunerated, that is an inconvenient fact. They can go to London, Paris or Frankfurt and earn multiples. We got screwed in the past with jobs for the boys, we are screwing ourselves now by ensuring none of the good ones will stay.

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    Mute Ronan Sexton
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    Apr 29th 2018, 9:11 AM

    @Paul P O’Sullivan: if they could go to London or Paris and earn considerably more money, they would be well gone. This is a myth to perpetuate their greed and sense of entitlement. Better opportunities in Paris? Off you pop there kid.

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    Mute Paul P O'Sullivan
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    Apr 29th 2018, 9:23 AM

    @Ronan Sexton: They are mostly already gone. Your counter argument was so very predictable populist nonsense.

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    Mute Dave Thomas
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    Apr 29th 2018, 10:24 AM

    @Paul P O’Sullivan: I doubt those executives are gonna leave just so the Irish lads can take their jobs anytime soon.

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    Mute Jarlath Murphy
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    Apr 29th 2018, 11:27 AM

    @Paul P O’Sullivan: Well not lets hold back this wonderful talent then, let them gead off to pastures green!

    Being a Bankster isn’t exactly rocket science contrary to the spin and spoofing we hear!

    Bunch of barrowboys trying to figure out how they can screw even more from their “valued customers”

    Give me a bucket!

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    Mute Michael Wall
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    Apr 29th 2018, 7:43 PM

    @Paul P O’Sullivan: eh weren’t they all getting bonuses when they crashed the economy? Why does the strict low bonus culture work in Germany but won’t work here? Frankly, if what we are attracting is those that crashed the economy, those that are selling out families to vulture funds and those that masterminded the illegal overcharging scandals – let them go!

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    Mute James Doyle
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    Apr 29th 2018, 9:09 PM

    @Jarlath Murphy: Bankers will be redundant within then years, Digital money like cryptocurrencies are the future. Decentralized no Central banksters to print fiat money that loses its value on a daily basis Zero interest on deposits like at the moment where your money is losing value with inflation at 3% so your Euro on deposit is worth only 97 cent in a years time. If your bank becomes insolvent you as a depositor are on the hook for a bail in, to bail out the Banksters this law came in on the 1/1/2016. It makes no economic sense to have anything over day to day expenses in deposits in banks with zero interest rates and the risk of bail ins. Physical Gold and Silver, Cryptocurrencies, and commodities is where your money will at least hold its value and has every chance of making big gains into the future, all paper money ends up worthless in the end when inflation does what the central bankers want to devalue their paper money to lower the debt costs that at this point in time is totally out of control by Governments and personnel at 230 Trillion in USD terms The systematic failure of the 2008 crash was never seriously tackled the so called recovery was enabled by printing money out of thin air to buy bank and company junk bonds,and lowering interest rates to zero. The debt and bond markets are set to implode any day now and then the whole house of cards will collapse, and 2008 will seem like a walk in the park. Get out of fiat paper money or watch your wealth halved or at worst lose it all.

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    Mute Patrick Swan
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    Apr 29th 2018, 9:10 PM

    @Paul P O’Sullivan: let them go there. Second or third best will do fine. In fact its supposedly the ‘best’ that got us in debt for billions. We can’t afford ‘talent’ like that again. Lets have unambitious, reasonably competent people instead, for a fraction of the price.

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    Mute alphanautica
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    Apr 29th 2018, 8:04 AM

    As we are using the ridiculous term ‘bankers’ – which seems to mean everyone in financial services, how about we also ban ‘technies’ from getting bonuses too? They’re ‘all’ just harvesting our personal data without our knowing nor paying us for its use.

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    Mute DeFonz
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    Apr 29th 2018, 8:22 AM

    Is it beyond the wit of leaders and policy makers to devise a banking system that is run for the benefit of its customers and communities.
    Evidently there are only two options????

    1. Mega ego maniacs run it, taking risks with customers assets, and giving themselves huge bonuses if they show a paper profit at the end of a day, but fade away if they loose billions.

    2. Civil service jobs for life crowd move in.

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    Mute Ciara Ni Mhurchu
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    Apr 29th 2018, 9:17 AM

    @DeFonz: Not every civil servants is on a permanent contract. Absorb that information and learn from it.

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    Apr 29th 2018, 10:18 AM

    @Ciara Ni Mhurchu:
    Correct me if I’m wrong but I understood that a person may well start out on a fixed term contract but the state would be obliged to give them permanent status after a number of years.

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    Mute Ciara Ni Mhurchu
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    Apr 29th 2018, 10:48 AM

    @P.J. Nolan: After 4 years of full-time employment they’re meant to offer a permanent position. That doesn’t mean after being on various temporary contracts that they can’t tell you there’s no work for you when your contact ends.
    I’m a locum. Started as maternity cover, extended due to unpaid parental leave. Then offered a year contract which was extended by another year, ending on December 31st. My new contract might only be for a few months. I could be let go before the 4 years.

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    Apr 29th 2018, 12:46 PM

    @Ciara Ni Mhurchu:
    Much like the private sector then.
    Welcome to the real world.

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Apr 29th 2018, 7:41 AM

    Let them these egotistical people got us into the bother on the premise that if you pay peanuts you get monkey’s ,well we paid well and what did we get

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    Mute Setrakian
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    Apr 29th 2018, 9:17 AM

    Leo gets paid extremely well even though he’s not qualified for the position & failed miserably with every single appointment & position held as a lowly minister. Didn’t himself & all his other cronies only recently get another large pay rise for nothing. Hypocrisy at its finest. As was pointed out previously- ordinary bank workers are not ‘bankers’. Big difference in every way but convenient to tar everyone in that industry with the same brush. In any case Bank of Ireland are not owned / controlled by the government so they’ll probably push ahead regardless as they announce redundancies galore over the next few years & Leo won’t do $hit.

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    Mute Don
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    Apr 29th 2018, 10:08 AM

    In 2008 the consumer banking system was shown up to be what it is, a public service paid for by the tax payers. When the next financial crisis happens, tax payers will be there to rescue them and keep these employees in their jobs. Consumer banks that provide deposit guarantees should always remain in part public ownership, like the ESB. Irish semi state companies pay modest bonuses but not the extravagant banker style bonuses.

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    Apr 29th 2018, 12:48 PM

    @Don:
    And Irish semi states almost all make a loss.

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    Mute Patrick Swan
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    Apr 29th 2018, 9:14 PM

    @P.J. Nolan: a small loss is better than a catastrophically large one.

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    Mute Jarlath Murphy
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    Apr 29th 2018, 11:22 AM

    Bonuses is what created the Banksters mess!

    Getting paid large suns for shuffling paper across their desks and giving loans to people unable to make repayments!

    The only bonus they should get is not having to break stones while incarcerated!

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    Mute tom houlihan
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    Apr 29th 2018, 10:17 AM

    @Don. We pay the highest electricity prices in Europe

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    Mute Damien Mooney
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    Apr 29th 2018, 12:24 PM

    Time to treat them as the criminals they are.

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    Mute Rodney Williams
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    Apr 29th 2018, 11:50 AM

    When I worked in sales we had “planned income”
    We were paid 80% of salary on a monthly basis with the other 20% at risk unless we achieved 100% of target.
    The “at risk” portion was paid every 3 months, so if we had any “duff” deals they were deducted from our performance v target.

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    Mute Randal McNally
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    Apr 29th 2018, 6:41 PM

    I’d say, Bankers are The most “Un-Civil Servants”. As well as a combination of greed, fraudulent behavior, and incompetence

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