Republican candidate insists friendly forum in Sandown, New Hampshire is not a rehearsal for Sunday’s debate with Hillary Clinton 
 
 Donald Trump prepared for Sunday’s town hall-style debate with Hillary Clinton by insisting he wasn’t preparing for it. 
 
 
 
 At a town hall in Sandown, New Hampshire, questions were written down by an invited audience and then read by moderator Howie Carr, a pro-Trump talk show host in New England. 
 
 There was even a timer that kept Trump from talking for more than two minutes at a time. 
 
 But the Republican nominee insisting he wasn’t preparing for his next bout with Hillary Clinton. “This has nothing to do with Sunday,” Trump insisted. 
 
 He even complained about the media hype around his debate preparations. “Even tonight they said ‘Donald Trump is going to New Hampshire to practice for Sunday’ … it’s like they make you into a child. 
 
 “You really think Hillary Clinton is debate prepping for three or four days? She is resting … she wants to build up her energy for Sunday night and that’s fine.” 
 
 The town hall was the only public event staged by either presidential candidate on Thursday. Clinton held a private fundraiser at the St Regis Hotel in New York but otherwise did not appear on the campaign trail. 
 
 Trump’s performance in the first presidential debate was widely considered disastrous and Clinton has risen steadily in polling numbers to build a solid lead. On Thursday, Real Clear Politics showed the former secretary of state with an advantage of just over four percentage points. 
 
 Sunday’s debate at Washington University in St Louis represents a critical opportunity for Trump to try and turn the tide. He was neck and neck in the polls with Clinton prior to the first debate. 
 
 In Sandown, Trump looked back on that contest. First he blamed the microphone, but later told a questioner: “I did hold back.” 
 
 Still, he wouldn’t attack Clinton’s personal life on Sunday. “I’d much rather it be on policy. I didn’t like it getting into the gutter.” 
 
 
 
 The spectre of Hurricane Matthew hung over both campaigns on Thursday as the storm menaced Florida’s Atlantic coast. The Clinton campaign has asked cable companies in Florida not to run its advertisements on the Weather Channel this week after Republican complaints of opportunism. 
 
 The Trump campaign in a statement on Thursday offered “our thoughts and prayers” to everyone in the path of Hurricane Matthew and called on residents of affected areas to heed warnings and evacuation orders. Trump went on to express condolences to Haiti. “The United States should offer our assistance to help our island neighbors,” he said. 
 
 Before Sunday’s debate Trump is scheduled to appear in southern Wisconsin at an event held by the local Republican party in the district of Speaker Paul Ryan. It will mark the first time Ryan has appeared on the campaign trail with his party’s nominee. Trump will be joined by the state’s governor, Scott Walker, as well as Senator Ron Johnson, who is facing a tough fight to hold his seat in the Badger State. 
 
 Clinton is not scheduled to hold any public events before Sunday. However high-profile surrogates like Bill Clinton and Bernie Sanders are scheduled to appear on her behalf in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania respectively. ||||| NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said as many as 70 percent of federal agency regulations could be eliminated if he is elected in November, just hours after an adviser said the candidate would seek to cut 10 percent. 
 
 Trump, who blamed regulations for stifling business, told a crowd at a town hall event in New Hampshire on Thursday night that regulations for the environment and safety would remain. 
 
 “We are cutting the regulation at a tremendous clip. I would say 70 percent of regulations can go,” Trump said. “It’s just stopping businesses from growing.” 
 
 Earlier in the day during an online discussion with Reuters, Trump campaign adviser Anthony Scaramucci, a Wall Street financier who has raised campaign money for Trump, said Trump would eliminate 10 percent of regulations. 
 
 “We need regulation but immediately every agency will be asked to rate the importance of their regulations and we will push to remove 10 percent of the least important,” he said. 
 
 Another Trump campaign adviser reached by Reuters confirmed the 10 percent regulatory cut was part of their economic plan. 
 
 Jeff Holmstead, a former assistant administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency under George W. Bush’s presidency, said the goal was hard to comprehend. 
 
 “You could reduce the number of regulations by 10 percent without accomplishing very much,” he said. 
 
 He added it would make more sense for Trump to try to reduce the cost of regulatory compliance by 10 percent. 
 
 “I think it probably would be possible for a new administration to make changes that would reduce the cost of these programs by at least 10 percent while still maintaining essentially the same level of environmental protection,” he said. 
 
 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign town hall event in Sandown, New Hampshire, U.S., October 6, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar 
 
 Officials at the EPA and the U.S. Department of the Interior declined to comment, citing internal policies. 
 
 Scaramucci also said that Trump, a fierce critic of the Federal Reserve, would probably get along well with Fed Chair Janet Yellen. 
 
 Trump has repeatedly accused the Fed of serving as a political arm of the Obama White House. He says Yellen has put off raising interest rates in order to let President Barack Obama end his term in January without the economic shock that a rise in interest rates might entail. 
 
 Scaramucci, a founder of SkyBridge Capital, joined Reuters Global Markets Forum to discuss his views of the campaign. He said Trump would strive for a better balance in federal regulations. 
 
 Scaramucci was not as dismissive of Yellen as Trump is, saying he believes the New York property developer would warm to her eventually. 
 
 “There are many well-qualified candidates but I think Mr. Trump has to spend some time with chairwoman Yellen. I think knowing what I know about his personality he will like her,” he said. 
 
 Trump would seek to streamline regulations as a way to generate economic growth and help the flow of capital, the adviser said. Trump has specifically singled out the energy industry as an area that he would look at for reducing regulations. 
 
 “Wall Street is not the devil,” said Scaramucci. “In fact we are at our best when (there) is harmony between Main Street and Wall Street and we hope to restore that.” 
 
 Scaramucci singled out several areas that Trump would look to for reforms: 
 
 —Labor Department rules expanding the fiduciary standard for financial brokers who sell retirement products would likely be stopped. 
 
 Slideshow (6 Images) 
 
 —Legislation similar to the former Glass-Steagall Act that limited the banking industry would be on the table for review. 
 
 — The Dodd-Frank banking reforms that emerged from the Great Recession of 2008-09 will be reviewed and “the worst anti-business parts of it will be gutted.” 
 
 — The Volcker rule will be adjusted. Named after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, it is part of the sweeping 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. It aims to reduce risk-taking by preventing banks from using their own capital to make speculative bets. ||||| Trump swoops into Sandown for town hall 
 
 By JASON SCHREIBER 
 
 Union Leader Correspondent 
 
 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a town hall meeting Thursday night in Sandown. (JASON SCHREIBER/UNION LEADER CORRESPONDENT) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a town hall meeting Thursday night in Sandown. 
 
 SANDOWN — Surrounded by an invite-only crowd of about 160 at Sandown Town Hall Thursday night, billionaire businessman and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took prepared voter questions on subjects ranging from jobs to foreign policy failures.The questions were read by Boston radio talk show host Howie Carr.Trump said his town hall wasn’t prep for Sunday night’s debate against Democrat Hillary Clinton."I want to be with the American people," he said.He then asked voters if they really believed that Clinton was prepping for days before Sunday’s debate."No," audience members shouted.Trump said she was "resting."The first question of the night focused on Trump’s performance in the first debate and whether he had held back on being more critical of Clinton."I did hold back," he said, adding, "I didn’t like getting into the gutter."Trump was asked if he was "upset" by running mate Mike Pence’s "success" at his vice presidential debate earlier this week as some political observers suggested.He denied the claims."I was so happy that Mike did well," he said.Many of Trump’s supporters said they felt he did well with the town hall format, although some were surprised that voters didn’t get to ask their own questions to make it more personal. They did stand when Carr read their question.Republican Paul Cote, 56, of Londonderry, said the event was like an "informal chat" that wasn’t too heavy on policy."After you follow him long enough, it’s the standard things he believes in. He speaks from his heart," said Cote.Before Trump arrived, independent voter Christine Paul, 67, of South Hampton, waited outside and shared the reasons why she’s been supporting Trump since he launched his campaign."I feel that both the Republican and the Democrat establishment, the political elite, have really brought this country down," she said.Paul called Trump a "can-do person" who can be trusted, can’t be bought, and is the only candidate who’s "come forth with the courage to stand up to this to say ‘Enough is enough.’"She dismissed claims by some who have accused Trump of being sexist."These are all trumped-up charges," she said.Republican Roger Souland, 30, a small businessman from Hudson, said he came to hear Trump in person and not through media sound bites."I’m here to see him live, see what I feel like without going through media to get my own perception to see if it changes anything, makes it better or makes it worse," he said.Souland admitted that Trump wasn’t his first choice during the primary, but he’s now behind him."With all the different candidates in the beginning there were different rivers to go down, but we’re all going down this river now," he said.As the crowd lined up outside, a man carrying a sign that said, "Trump is God," stood across the street alongside opponents with protest signs.One showed head shots of Trump and U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, with the question, "Is Trump a Role Model?" and the answer, "Absolutely."New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who appeared at Sandown Town Hall in June 2015 the day he launched his primary campaign, joined Trump for Thursday’s event.jschreiber@newstote.com 
 
 
 
 Sandown Donald Trump ||||| Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are at risk of being elbowed out of the news cycle by a powerful hurricane churning toward the Southeast coast and threatening to barrel into two of their most important battlegrounds: Florida and North Carolina. 
 
 But the Clinton camp is refusing to be completely shut out of the conversation: Her team is buying airtime on the Weather Channel in a slew of major Florida media markets. 
 
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 Clinton is seeking to appeal directly to swing-state voters potentially in the path of Hurricane Matthew and will spend $63,000 to reach Weather Channel viewers there for five days beginning on Thursday, according to a source monitoring TV ad buys. Hurricane Matthew is currently forecast to approach the Florida East Coast late Thursday or on Friday. 
 
 It’s a risky proposition. The potential human and economic toll of major storms makes for one of the trickiest decisions of all for presidential campaigns: how to derive political benefit from natural disaster — or simply respond at all — without seeming to exploit real suffering. 
 
 The Weather Channel, unsurprisingly, gets a spike in viewership during natural disasters — and not just in the affected areas. Viewers across the country tend to tune in to watch storm footage. That might help explain parallel ad buys the Clinton campaign placed in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire that also coincide with Hurricane Matthew’s potential landfall. Trump and candidates for other offices have also advertised on the Weather Channel this year. 
 
 The new Clinton ads — a small sliver of a larger cable purchase in multiple swing states, which includes just-placed ads during postseason baseball games — appear to be an attempt to salvage some share of the conversation in the run-up to Sunday’s second presidential debate. The campaign was forced by the storm Wednesday to cancel a planned Florida trip by President Barack Obama, and they’re likely to lose multiple news cycles as residents grapple with storm recovery efforts in Florida, North Carolina and neighboring states that are less competitive electorally. 
 
 "Over the past few days, our campaign made millions of dollars of adjustments and refinements to our TV buys on dozens of different cable stations in markets all across the battleground states," said Clinton campaign spokesman Jesse Ferguson. "The Weather Channel represented less than one percent of that spending. These shifts were part of our regular updates to maximize efficiency, effectiveness and reach of our ad buy." 
 
 Matthew could scramble the election in other ways, too. Both campaign operations in those two states are likely to be inactive as volunteers, staffers and their families shelter and recover from the storm. And in Florida, while South Florida should avoid a direct hit, the storm could skirt some of the Democratic strongholds where turnout will be essential to the Clinton-Kaine ticket. 
 
 “You need to strike a balance between looking presidential but not looking like you’re a politically crass politician who’s parachuting in for a photo-op,” said Ryan Williams, who advised Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. 
 
 When an incumbent president is on the ballot — as Barack Obama was in 2012 when the remnants of Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast or George W. Bush was when a string of storms hammered Florida in 2004 — the benefit is clear. Presidents are obligated to helm disaster responses, coordinating with local officials and exercising their executive authority in very visible ways. 
 
 “Certainly there’s an effect that occurs when a chief executive is looking like a chief executive at a time of crisis,” said Brett Doster, who advised Bush’s reelection campaign in Florida. “You just can’t divorce politics from it.” 
 
 Doster said Bush presided during a string of brutal hurricanes in 2003 and 2004, while his brother Jeb was in the governor’s mansion there. Both worked intensely to depoliticize their handling of the storm, he said — and the result was mutual political benefit. Then-President Bush made gains in Florida, a linchpin in his reelection, and Jeb Bush earned high marks for storm management, which became a selling point in his ill-fated 2016 presidential bid. 
 
 Whether Trump or Clinton can demonstrate presidential leadership during a storm response is less clear, since neither has an official role. More likely, strategists said, eyes will turn to Obama and Florida Gov. Rick Scott — each of whom has become a prominent surrogate for their preferred candidate. 
 
 “The two candidates are going to have to be very careful because there’s a tremendous risk if it looks like they’re politicizing it in the least,” Doster said. 
 
 Kevin Cate, a veteran Florida strategist who worked on Obama’s 2008 campaign said a Clinton ad campaign in Florida could be positive if it takes the proper tone. “As long as the paid media is not overtly insulting or negative, I think it’s smart to communicate a message of hope and optimism, but not run the traditional kind of negative slash and burn,” he said. He added that both campaigns need to be mindful that voters who lose power — potentially more than a million along the Florida coast — will be getting most of their news via social media through their phones. 
 
 Trump has already made an issue of Clinton’s decision to eschew Louisiana earlier this year after severe flooding. He traveled to the area to survey the damage and declared it a display of presidential leadership to get an on-the-ground perspective, even as some Democrats described his visit as a distraction that detracted from recovery efforts. And during a tumultuous period of protests in North Carolina following a police shooting of an African-American man, Clinton was forced to cancel a planned trip to Charlotte when local officials warned it would divert resources from managing the crisis. 
 
 Trump may have a business reason to get involved in this case — his Mar-a-Lago property, just south of Palm Beach, sits in one of the highest-risk zones for the hurricane’s impact, with forecasts calling for some of the most extreme winds of all. 
 
 Steve Schale, who ran Obama’s 2008 Florida campaign, said disaster response is always dicey for nonincumbent candidates. “There is no perfect road map for these things, and when I have been in decision-making positions, I always err on the side of caution,” he said. “While guys like me think about the politics of everything, you have to repress those instincts, and let basic common sense prevail, and most importantly, encourage your clients to stay in their lane.” 
 
 Schale said the campaign pulled TV ads and scaled back operations when storms approached. 
 
 “The last thing a voter trying to evacuate wants to do is hear from an overambitious campaign,” he said. Candidates could instead use their platforms, he added, to direct residents’ attention to shelters and public guidance. 
 
 Republicans also have painful memories of the response to Sandy, which occurred a week before Election Day. Obama, who appeared to have a narrow edge in the race in those final few days, traveled to New Jersey and was met by the warm embrace of Gov. Chris Christie — a display of bipartisan comity that some Republicans credit with widening Obama’s lead. 
 
 “When you’re the incumbent, you have official duties to carry out. You have to go down, meet with the victims,” said Ryan Williams, who advised Romney’s 2012 campaign. “It helps a politician’s effort if they’re doing it well. Incumbent politicians have a great deal to gain politically by effectively responding to a significant storm.” 
 
 Steve Lonegan, a former New Jersey mayor who ran Ted Cruz’s 2016 operation in the state, lamented that Obama benefited politically from his handling of Sandy. And he worried a similar response effort by Obama would play to Clinton’s benefit. 
 
 “If Obama visits the impacted states he will appear with Republican governors in Florida and North Carolina,” he said, despite his role as a “cheerleader” for Clinton. “Trump has to make these visits. As the possible next president in just a few months he will be expected to show what he is made of in these circumstances. And since Obama is Hillary’s surrogate he is entitled to respect for showing concern.” 
 
 It’s been nearly 11 years since a major hurricane made landfall in the United States. The last storm, Hurricane Wilma — which made landfall along Florida’s southwest Gulf Coast in October 2005 as a Category-3 storm — killed five people in Florida, knocked out power to nearly all South Florida residents and caused $21 billion in damage. (Sandy in 2012 lost hurricane status about an hour before barreling into the New Jersey coast.) 
 
 As of 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Matthew was bearing down on the Bahamas with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph. The Category-3 storm has already prompted Hurricane warnings for the Atlantic coast of Florida from just north of Miami up the coast to north of Daytona Beach. The Atlantic coasts of Northern Florida and Georgia are under a Hurricane Watch. 
 
 The forecast for Matthew still contains considerable uncertainty. The storm could make landfall anywhere on the Atlantic coast from South Florida northward to the North Carolina Outer Banks. Or it could skirt the coast without the center crossing over land at all. 
 
 The current forecast track places the center of Hurricane Matthew near the Central Florida coast late Thursday night into Friday, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph. Even if the storm center doesn’t make landfall in Florida, residents there can expect conditions to deteriorate during the day on Thursday, with hurricane conditions possible by Thursday night. 
 
 Based on the storm’s forecast strength — a low Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale — a direct landfall could produce “catastrophic” damage for coastal regions. 
 
 After crossing or skirting the Florida coast, Matthew is forecast to move north and east along the U.S. coast, potentially affecting the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The longer-term track of Matthew is even more uncertain – but some computer projections suggest the storm, after moving farther offshore this weekend, could even loop back toward the coast next week. ||||| Trump touts economic plan as protesters continuously interrupt 
 
 Pledging to “make America grow again,” Donald Trump offered details of his economic plan Monday as he attacked Hillary Clinton in a scripted speech in Detroit. 
 
 But while the candidate was rigorously on-message, he was continually interrupted as shouting protesters were removed from the hall. The GOP nominee paused 10 times in the first 20 minutes of his address to the Detroit Economic Club while protesters were led out of the hall. 
 
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 Trump mostly stayed quiet as the audience booed while protesters were removed from the room. It wasn’t until the 10th protester began to make noise that Trump finally weighed in, joking that “the Bernie Sanders people had far more energy and spirit.” 
 
 Among the specifics laid out by the Republican nominee were proposals to reduce the corporate tax rate to 15 percent and to make all child-care expenses tax free. Trade agreements, a regular target of scorn for Trump on the campaign trail, would be completely overhauled, Trump said. He also advocated for the removal of the estate tax — often derided by Republicans as the “death tax” — and for a reduction of the number of tax brackets from seven to three, matching a proposal from House Speaker Paul Ryan. 
 
 Trump also promised an immediate temporary moratorium on all new regulations from federal agencies, a move he said would help encourage businesses to invest in America. He praised his running mate, Mike Pence, for instituting a similar order as governor of Indiana. 
 
 Overall, Trump urged a return to what he described as an “America first” policy that would prioritize states like Michigan and cities like Detroit. The GOP nominee said “Detroit was once the envy of the world,” a status he suggested it has lost amid globalization and the movement of manufacturing jobs overseas. 
 
 “The city of Detroit is the living, breathing, example of my opponent's failed economic agenda,” Trump said. 
 
 Trump’s remarks came amid a larger push from his campaign to reset the race and keep the candidate on message after a stretch of controversies. 
 
 Since the end of his convention, Trump has, among other things, feuded with the Gold Star parents of a fallen Muslim soldier, faced widespread criticism for his refusal to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) Under intense scrutiny, the Manhattan billionaire wound up offering an endorsement to all three just days later at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin. 
 
 In addition to touting his own plans, Trump spent significant time bashing those of his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. Through the lens of her economic proposals, Trump hit many of his regular notes on Clinton, characterizing her as dishonest and her proposals as “job-killing.” 
 
 Perhaps seeking to capture some of the forward-looking momentum that President Barack Obama relied on to win the White House twice, Trump said the former secretary of state “is the candidate of the past. Ours is the campaign of the future.” 
 
 “If you were a foreign power looking to weaken America, you couldn't do better than Hillary Clinton's economic agenda,” he said. “Every policy she has tilts the playing field towards other countries, at our expense and that's why she tries to distract us with tired, political rhetoric that seeks to label us, divide us and pull us apart.” 
 
 Despite her promises to the contrary, Trump guaranteed “as sure as you’re sitting there” that Clinton would approve the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership if she is elected. He said previous trade agreements, including NAFTA, which was signed by her husband, have cost America and specifically Detroit, thousands of jobs. 
 
 As evidence of Clinton's inability to follow through on promises of economic progress, Trump pointed to an article published Monday by The Washington Post, a newspaper on the so-called "black list" of media outlets that the campaign refuses to credential. The story outlines how manufacturing jobs in upstate New York decreased by 25 percent and job growth in the region grew stagnant during Clinton's tenure as one of the state's senators. Trump called the former secretary of state's Senate tenure "a disaster" for upstate New York residents. 
 
 The Manhattan billionaire pledged to crack down on China, a nation he said breaks international rules “in every way imaginable.” He promised to more strongly enforce intellectual property laws and crack down on “currency cheating and product dumping.” Collectively, Trump said, a more aggressive posture towards China would protect thousands of American jobs and prompt the creation of new ones. 
 
 Clinton’s energy proposals also drew Trump’s scorn. The Republican nominee said the former secretary of state’s proposals would raise the price of electricity for families and businesses while hurting American energy producers. Trump contrasted that with his proposal, which he said “will end this war on the American worker and unleash an energy revolution that will bring vast, new wealth to our country.” 
 
 On his campaign’s website, Trump attacked Clinton’s economic proposals in even greater detail. 
 
 Citing the conservative Tax Foundation, a statement on Trump’s website outlined findings showing that Clinton’s proposals would reduce Americans’ after-tax income by an average of 1.3 percent and decrease the number of full-time equivalent jobs by 311,000. The result, Trump’s campaign said, would be a U.S. economy that shrinks by one percent in the long term. 
 
 “Americanism, not globalism will be our new credo,” Trump said. “Our country will reach amazing new heights, maybe heights never attained before. All we have to do is stop relying on the tired voices of the past.” 
 
 Authors: ||||| SANFORD — Calling him “the poster boy for everything wrong with our economy,” Hillary Clinton called on Donald Trump to release his tax returns after slamming him for what she called the “legally dubious” ways he avoided paying taxes. 
 
 Clinton’s rally at the Sanford Civic Center on Tuesday night was part of a swing through the crucial state of Florida, as polls show the race tightening with just a week before the presidential election. 
 
 She told the packed crowd of about 1,000 inside the center – as well as a large overflow crowd outside – that “I’m not taking anything, anyone, any place for granted.” 
 
 “Twenty-six million people in America have already voted, more than 4 million of them right here in Florida,” she said. “If we can keep this up, there’s no doubt – if we vote, we win.” 
 
 Clinton made no mention of the renewed FBI investigation of her emails, an “October surprise” that roiled the campaign on Friday. 
 
 Instead, she focused largely on her Republican opponent. She hit Trump over a New York Times story that detailed the ways he might have avoided paying federal taxes for decades, saying “he has the nerve to call the military a disaster and insult veterans while he hasn’t paid a penny to support those who put on the uniform.” 
 
 Caption Number of migrants caught at Mexican border plunges 40% under Trump The number of migrants caught by Border Patrol agents as they attempt to cross the Southwest border has plunged dramatically. (March 9, 2017) The number of migrants caught by Border Patrol agents as they attempt to cross the Southwest border has plunged dramatically. (March 9, 2017) Caption State bill could eliminate many local ordinances The Florida Legislature is considering a bill which would ban cities and counties from regulating businesses without specific authorization from the state. The Florida Legislature is considering a bill which would ban cities and counties from regulating businesses without specific authorization from the state. 
 
 Releasing his returns, she said, would also reveal “how much he’s actually worth, who he actually does business with, [including] Russian business deals, and it would be interesting to know whether he’s even given a penny to charity.” 
 
 Clinton also attacked Trump for “literally insulting a huge majority of American people,” and quoted former Miss Universe Alicia Mercado’s speech at her rally Tuesday morning in South Florida. 
 
 “As Alicia said today, she refuses to let such a small person let her down.” 
 
 Talking about the Pulse nightclub shootings in Orlando, Clinton vowed “I will defeat ISIS” while also calling for an end to “the epidemic of gun violence.” 
 
 She added, “I cannot come to Sanford without talking about Trayvon Martin,” the teen shot and killed in the city in 2012. “All he did was go to the corner store for a pack of Skittles and was walking back home and his life was cut short.” 
 
 Having gotten to know Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, and other mothers of gun violence victims, “I’m so impressed by how they’ve taken a moment of grief and decided to do everything they could to protect the children of other mothers and fathers. 
 
 “We have a moral obligation to reduce gun violence, and that requires us to stand up against systemic racism and promote justice,” she said. 
 
 She and other speakers, including civil rights icon and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, called on supporters to vote and get others to vote. 
 
 “I almost died for the right to vote,” Lewis said. “So I must tell you, you must go out and vote, and vote as you never, ever have before. It’s our most sacred, our most powerful non-violent tool we have in society, and we must use it.” 
 
 Asked by the Orlando Sentinel about reports that early vote numbers for African-Americans were lagging behind those of 2012, Lewis said he was sure they would improve. 
 
 “Ministers will go to the pulpits on Sunday and get people to get out and vote,” Lewis said. “The past few days, I’ve been in Chicago, Minnesota, Las Vegas… I feel good about what’s happening. I’m very sure that we’re going to have a great turnout.” 
 
 The crowd, one of the most vocal at any of Clinton’s Central Florida rallies, loudly finished many of Clinton’s more famous lines, such as Michelle Obama’s “When they go low, we go high,” and broke into chants of “No-Show Rubio” while U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy criticized his U.S. Senate opponent, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. 
 
 Stephanie Murphy, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress in District 7, told the crowd that her opponent, incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica, “did everything he could to stop Barack Obama.” 
 
 “Now, he’s enthusiastically supporting Donald Trump, who did everything he could to de-legitimize our nation’s first African-American president,” Stephanie Murphy said. 
 
 In line before the event, Gloria Cummings of Lake Monroe said she's been "making sure" to do her part in getting African-American voting numbers up. 
 
 "I was actually just at early voting," Cummings said. "We've been getting the word out in all areas." 
 
 slemongello@orlandosentinel.com or 407-418-5920 ||||| Donald Trump delivered Saturday on his plan to use historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as the setting for a closing argument in his Republican presidential campaign -- but not before lashing out again at familiar targets including rival Hillary Clinton, a “rigged” America and female accusers whom he branded ”liars.” 
 
 Trump vowed after the election to sue the nearly one dozen women who have recently gone to the media with allegations about his sexual misconduct, a situation that Trump says has rigged the election against him. 
 
 “Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign -- total fabrication,” Trump told the crowd. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.” 
 
 In what Trump billed as a “Contract with the American Voter,” the first-time candidate vowed to within the first 100 days of office to take six majors steps -- including putting term limits on members of Congress. 
 
 “It is a contract between myself and the American voter and begins with restoring honesty, accountability and change to Washington,” Trump said. 
 
 As part of the contract, Trump wants to impose the term limits through a Constitutional amendment and have a 5 year-ban on White House and congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service. And he wants to impose a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government; 
 
 “I am not a politician,” Trump also said Saturday. “But when I saw the trouble our country was in, I felt I had to act.” 
 
 Trump also said that if elected his administration would try to undo an emerging deal in which AT&T will buy Time Warner, which would create a major media conglomerate. 
 
 With Election Day now just 17 days away and Trump trailing Clinton in essentially every poll, the GOP nominee is working to assure voters that he is as capable and knowledgeable about policy as he is about rough-and-tumble electoral politics. 
 
 "Trump will use the historic setting of Gettysburg where the country was saved,” a senior campaign source told Fox News before the speech. “He will lay out a concise program that he will commit to execute from the first day in office.” 
 
 Gettysburg is where Republican President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address in November 1863 in an attempt to unify Americans amid the Civil War. 
 
 Clinton has had a clear policy advantage over Trump since Day One of the 2016 White House race, considering she is a former first lady, New York senator and secretary of state. 
 
 Throughout the campaign, and particularly in the candidates’ third-and-final debate Wednesday night, Trump has argued that Clinton, in her 30 years in politics, has failed to solve any major domestic or foreign issues for the United States. 
 
 On Saturday, Trump again suggested Clinton lied to the FBI and Justice Department in their investigations into her use of a private server system as secretary of state because she said during the probes 36 times that she couldn’t recall what she had done. 
 
 Trump is making several stops this weekend in Pennsylvania, one of a handful of battleground states that he must win to become president. 
 
 He trails Clinton in Pennsylvania by 6 percent points, according to the RealClearPolitics polls average. 
 
 However, Trump appears in the past few days to be cutting into Clinton’s lead, in part with his repeated message that the liberal media has rigged the election. 
 
 A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday showed Trump having cut Clinton’s lead in half. 
 
 “The media refuses to talk about the three new national polls that have me in first place,” Trump tweeted overnight. “Biggest crowds ever -- watch what happens!”
– Donald Trump wants to more than merely decimate federal regulations: He told a town hall event in New Hampshire on Thursday night that he wants to wipe out a full 70% of them. "We are cutting the regulation at a tremendous clip. I would say 70% of regulations can go," Trump said. "It's just stopping businesses from growing." He didn't specify which 70% will be axed, but he said regulations on the environment and safety could stay. Earlier in the day, Trump adviser Anthony Scaramucci told Reuters that the candidate was planning to get rid of the "least important" 10% of federal regulations. In other coverage: Trump denied that the town hall was prep for Sunday's second debate with Hillary Clinton, which will have a similar format, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports. He told the audience that his rival was "resting" to "build up her energy" instead of prepping for the debate—and strongly denied that he was "upset" about running mate Mike Pence being seen as the winner of this week's vice presidential debate. The Guardian reports that after criticism from Republicans, the Clinton campaign has asked cable companies not to run the ads it bought on the Weather Channel this week ahead of Hurricane Matthew. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, has called on people in the storm's path to heed evacuation orders, and Trump says the US should "offer our assistance to help our island neighbors" affected by the storm in Haiti. The Washington Post reports that Trump appears to be trying harder to stick to his advisers' script: His tweets have been restrained and he has said he doesn't plan on bringing up Bill Clinton's infidelity during Sunday's debate. Politico reports that with a month to go and around $150 million to spend, Clinton's campaign is planning an ad blitz like no other in battleground states. The Hill looks at five things Trump will need to do to win Sunday's debate. They include learning from Pence's performance—and not taking the bait every time there's a charge against him. The New York Times and the Washington Post look at an episode from Trump's past that could come back to haunt him in the debate: In 1991 he appeared before the House to successfully lobby for the restoration of tax breaks and loopholes for real estate developers that had been removed in Ronald Reagan's 1986 tax reform legislation.