JOIN USBarack Obama hits the campaign trail, Donald Trump courts voters in North Carolina and Joe Biden is still at home on the eve of the final debate: here's what's going on in the US presidential campaign with 13 days to go.
For the third day in a row, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden did not have any events on his public schedule on Wednesday -- a stark difference from Trump, who is holding rally after rally in the run-up to November 3.
Biden's critics constantly challenge the health and mental capacity of the 77-year-old former vice president, but there is no concrete reason to doubt his absence is due to anything but preparation for Thursday's televised debate.
Biden is counting on his former boss Obama to do the campaigning for him.
The former president is making his first in-person appearance on the campaign trail, addressing Biden supporters at a drive-in rally in Philadelphia, just a short drive from Biden's home base in Delaware.
Obama's support is seen as vital for his former number two. The pair were in office from 2009 to 2017.
Pennsylvania is a key battleground state -- won by Trump in 2016, the Democrats are hoping to turn the tide this time around.
Another key swing state is North Carolina, where Trump will pursue his daily campaign rally marathon -- probably without the same social distancing in effect for the Obama event.
The Republican incumbent is hoping to use his public appearances to make up some ground lost to Biden in the polls.
The East Coast state also welcomed Biden's running mate, Kamala Harris, on Wednesday. She encouraged residents to vote early.
Early voting -- in-person and absentee -- is the buzzword of this campaign, and records are falling every day. So far, 40 million Americans have cast their ballots, according to the independent US Elections Project, which is run by the University of Florida.
Democrats have urged voters to turn out early, as a means of respecting virus prevention measures. But a flood of voters have descended in some states, meaning hours-long lines.
Team Trump has repeatedly criticized early voting as being susceptible to fraud, though it has offered no evidence to that effect. It has asked supporters to show up en masse on November 3.