Focused on Trump, Biden kicks off campaign

Reuters - Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden officially kicked off his White House campaign on Monday (April 29) by hosting a union event in Pittsburgh just hours after securing his first labour endorsement. Biden told Teamsters members who attended his first event as a 2020 contender that restoring a vibrant middle class would be the theme of his campaign. "The country wasn't built by Wall Street bankers, CEOs and hedge fund managers, it was built by you," Biden told the packed union hall," Biden told the packed union hall. Among those who introduced Biden was Harold Schaitberger, the president of the International Association of Firefighters, a 300,000-member union that endorsed him ahead of the Pittsburgh event. Biden, who joined the 2020 Democratic race last week, has long styled himself as a champion of blue-collar workers. He is counting on organized labour to comprise a significant part of his support. On Twitter, U.S. president Donald Trump took aim at Biden ahead of his rally, tweeting: "Sleepy Joe Biden is having his first rally in the Great State of Pennsylvania. He obviously doesn't know that Pennsylvania is having one of the best economic years in its history, with lowest unemployment EVER, a now thriving Steel Industry (that was dead) & great future!........" In Pittsburgh, Biden, 76, laid out his vision for bolstering the nation's middle class. He will next head to the early voting state of Iowa.