(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump made fun of Democratic nominee Joe Biden for saying he’d “listen to the scientists.” Biden is making fun of Trump for saying he’ll leave the country if he loses. And a South Carolina Senate ad is not what it seems.

There are 15 days until the election and 56 days until the Electoral College meets.

Other Developments:

  • Stimulus Deal Before Election Hangs on Pelosi’s Tuesday Cutoff
  • Trump Attempts a Positive Spin on Fundraising Deficit to Biden
  • K Street Buzzes Over Possible Shift to Biden After Trump Era
  • Botched New York Ballots Sap Confidence as Mail Voting Begins

Trump Mocks Biden’s ‘Listen to the Scientists’ Argument

Trump did an impression of Biden saying he would “listen to the scientists” as he mocked his opponent’s approach to the pandemic.

During a rally Sunday in Carson City, Nevada, Trump argued that cities and states should “open up” and have fewer restrictions designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus and claimed Biden would restrict them further.

“He’s going to want us to lock down,” he said, straightening his spine and putting his hands at his side as he affected a serious demeanor. “He’ll ‘listen to the scientists.’”

Biden has repeatedly said he would “listen to the scientists” on how to handle the pandemic and criticized Trump for denouncing public health measures like restrictions on shops and restaurants and mask-wearing requirements.

Trump went on to say that if he had listened to the scientists the country “would be in a massive depression.”

But Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said that Trump’s attacks on science made the economic situation worse.

“Donald Trump tanked the strong economy he inherited from the Obama-Biden administration by continually discounting and attacking warnings from the scientific and medical experts working around the clock to save lives,” he said.

The unemployment rate in September was 7.9%, down from a high of 14.7% shortly after the pandemic began in April, but still above the 4.7% it was when Trump took office in January of 2017. -- Josh Wingrove

Biden Ad Encourages Trump to Leave

Trump keeps joking he won’t come back to states that don’t vote for him. The Biden campaign’s latest ad encourages him to do so.

The minute-long ad features Trump saying at recent rallies in Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Florida and North Carolina that he won’t return.

“I may never have to come back here again if I don’t get Iowa,” Trump said last week in Des Moines. “I’ll never be back.”

The ad ends with Trump’s remarks on Friday that if he doesn’t win “maybe I’ll have to leave the country, I don’t know.”

After a beat, the ad shows text on the screen: “What he said.”

Senate Ad Warns Voters About Candidate Who Dropped Out

Third-party candidate Bill Bledsoe dropped out of the South Carolina Senate race earlier this month and endorsed Senator Lindsey Graham.

But he’s the star of a new ad -- from Graham’s Democratic challenger.

An ad from former state Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison warns voters to be wary of Bledsoe, who it says is “too conservative for South Carolina.” It then notes that he opposes all abortions and gun control laws and supported Trump “from day one.”

All of those things, of course, would be a draw for some of the state’s most conservative voters, who have long been skeptical of Graham.

Bledsoe also ran as a third-party candidate against Senator Tim Scott in 2016, receiving 2% of the vote. A New York Times/Siena College poll last week showed Graham up 6 percentage points over Harrison, with a 4.5-point margin of error.

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