Trump tries to boost appeal in blue states

Donald Trump plunged into his final-week sprint to election day in exactly the way he’s made famous all year: unleashing a harsh new attack against Democrat Hillary Clinton in Michigan, a state that hasn’t favored a Republican for president in nearly three decades.

“Her election would mire our government and our country in a constitutional crisis that we cannot afford,” Trump declared in Grand Rapids, pointing to the FBI’s renewed examination of Clinton’s email practices as evidence the former secretary of state might face a criminal trial as president.

[...] with more than 23 million ballots already cast through early voting, it’s unclear whether Trump has the time or capacity to dramatically improve his standing over the next week in states such as Michigan, where few political professionals in either party expect a Republican victory next Tuesday.

For much of the year, Clinton has pounded the airwaves with advertising, assembled an expansive voter data file and constructed a nationwide political organization that dwarfs her opponent’s.

The Democratic presidential nominee and her allies in a dozen battleground states have more than 4,800 people knocking on doors, making phone calls and otherwise working to support her candidacy.

The New York businessman over the past year has largely ignored the key components of recent winning campaigns, depending instead on huge rallies and free media coverage to drive his outsider candidacy.