WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on the U.S. presidential race (all times EDT):
9:40 a.m.
Donald Trump is suggesting that Democrats are making up “phony polls” to drive down turnout.
Trump tweeted Monday that the polls were created “to suppress” his support. He did not back up his claim with evidence.
Most polls show Trump losing nationally and in key battleground states.
He later tweeted complaints that Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Tim Kaine, has not been asked about what he described as the “horrible views” about Catholicism unearthed in campaign aides’ emails in the WikiLeaks hack. Kaine is Catholic.
But Kaine was asked about that during his Sunday appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Kaine rejected the notion of anti-Catholic views in his party by pointing to his place on the ticket.
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8 a.m.
Polling places are starting to open for early voting in the battleground state of Florida.
Fifty counties will open polling places on Monday, including the state’s largest counties: Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Orange and Palm Beach. The remaining counties will start in the coming week.
Early voting by mail has been underway for weeks. Nearly 1.2 million voters in Florida have already mailed in ballots. The state has nearly 13 million registered voters.
Polls have shown a tight race in Florida between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. A victory in the state is critical to Trump’s hopes for capturing the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
Both candidates are sweeping through Florida this week, trying to boost turnout among their supporters.
Election Day is Nov. 8.
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6:40 a.m.
President Barack Obama is stepping up the pace of his campaign to boost Hillary Clinton for president while pushing the efforts to restore Democratic control of the Senate.
Getting into the Las Vegas spirit Sunday night, Obama told Nevadans they have a winning hand in Clinton and Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto.
“You’ve got black jack,” Obama told a crowd of 3,000 boisterous supporters packed into a local high school, while another 2,100 were in an exterior courtyard.
Obama was unsparing in his criticism of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, describing the billionaire businessman as unfit to serve as president. Obama said that for years, Republican politicians and far right media outlets have served up “all kinds of crazy stuff” about him, Clinton and Sen. Harry Reid, the Nevadan who leads Senate Democrats. Obama cited as an example those who questioned whether he was born in the U.S. and others who argued that he aimed to take away everybody’s guns.