Clinton pushes to get vote out as Trump looks for attack topics

Hillary Clinton urged voters in Iowa to start casting ballots on Thursday, more than five weeks before election day.

Mrs Clinton's 10-city tour of Iowa brought the Democratic presidential nominee back to a state where she eked out a win in the caucuses over Bernie Sanders.

With her focus now on defeating Donald Trump, she was hoping that putting an emphasis on early voting could help her replicate President Barack Obama's successful strategy in the battleground state four years ago.

In Des Moines, Mrs Clinton planned a speech focused on the childcare challenges faced by middle-class families.

It is a traditionally Democratic issue, which Mr Trump has recently taken on, prompted largely by interest from his daughter, Ivanka.

The Republican nominee was holding a rally in New Hampshire on Thursday, a day after Mrs Clinton campaigned there with Mr Sanders in an appeal to young voters.

While Mrs Clinton sought to broaden her appeal to voters still on the fence, Mr Trump was sticking with his strategy of focusing on the loyal base of working-class voters whose enthusiasm has driven his campaign.

Mr Trump has brushed off criticism of his performance in the first presidential debate that has come from supporters and opponents alike.

Gimmick survey

However, in a nod to the concerns expressed by some Trump allies that he was insufficiently prepared, his campaign and the

Republican National Committee

released a “TRUMP Debate Preparation Survey” ahead of his second showdown with Mrs Clinton.

The survey, a gimmick intended to engage supporters online, asks whether Mr Trump should use the second debate to criticise Mrs Clinton for her policies on terrorism, economics and trade – questions sure to elicit an enthusiastic “yes” from backers.

Absent was any inquiry about whether Mr Trump should bring up former president Bill Clinton’s infidelities, as he has repeatedly threatened to do.

In another reminder of how far this year's presidential campaign has veered into baffling territory, third-party candidate Gary Johnson was being ridiculed after he was unable, in a television appearance, to name a single world leader he admired.

“I’m having a brain freeze,” Mr Johnson said on Wednesday.

Cuba embargo

Mr Trump also faced fresh questions about business opportunities he explored in the late 1990s in Cuba, apparently in violation of the US embargo on the communist island.

The work was done by a consulting firm on behalf Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc, Mr Trump's casino company, Newsweek reported.

The magazine said Mr Trump reimbursed the consulting firm for $68,000 in business expenses for its Cuba work – even though neither he nor the firm had sought a federal government waiver that would have allowed them to pursue such activities.

Mrs Clinton’s focus on early voting reflects the premium Democrats are placing this year on getting their voters to turn out – if possible, long before November 8th.

Although the political map favours Mrs Clinton, Democrats are concerned that a lack of enthusiasm will keep their voters from showing up in the same numbers that led to Mr Obama’s victories in the last two elections.

– (AP)