U.S Election: Volatile Campaign Enters Final Week

Spurred by the firestorm over a new FBI investigation, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are beginning their final sprint to Election Day. A newly embattled Clinton is trying to shore up her Democratic base and a newly optimistic Trump is aiming to animate his core Republican supporters and increase his strength in states that have been trending against him.

The presidential race has entered an especially volatile period because of FBI Director James Comey's disclosure Friday that his agency is reopening an inquiry related to Clinton's controversial use of a private email system as secretary of state. The FBI's goal, it appears, is to determine if there were security breaches.

Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, blasted Clinton at rallies Sunday in Colorado and New Mexico and is scheduled to campaign Monday in Michigan and Tuesday in Wisconsin. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, won Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin in 2008 and 2012.

The FBI announcement Friday gave Trump an opening to double down on his claim that Clinton is "corrupt" and can't be trusted. At one point during the weekend, Trump said the email issue is worse than the Watergate scandal, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Clinton is focusing on generating turnout among Democrats, especially in the battleground states of Florida, North Carolina and Ohio.

Clinton told a rally in Florida last weekend, "No matter what it [the opposition] throws at us, we need to stay focused on our goal"--to generate the highest pro-Clinton vote possible. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, told a rally near Detroit Sunday that the FBI announcement "kind of revved up some enthusiasm, a little bit of righteous anger."

John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman, told CNN Sunday that the FBI announcement was "long on innuendo, short on facts" and he added that there is "no charge of wrongdoing" against Clinton. But her strategists are concerned that Comey's announcement could change the dynamic of the campaign, which had been going Clinton's way.

Trump's problem is that Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has built sizable leads in most battleground states and is ahead in electoral votes.