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US President Joe Biden is seen at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on May 8, 2024
US President Joe Biden takes a picture with a supporter as he meets with campaign volunteers in Racine, Wisconsin, on May 8, 2024
President Joe Biden visited crucial US battleground state Wisconsin Wednesday and announced a $3.3 billion artificial intelligence datacenter -- drawing contrasts with rival Donald Trump, whose pledged mega-project at the same location fizzled.
"On my watch, we make promises and we keep promises," the Democrat said as he highlighted a major investment by Microsoft in Racine, a city on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Microsoft will build a new AI datacenter built right where Trump, Biden's predecessor and likely rival again in November's presidential election, had vowed with great fanfare to build a giant factory for Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn.
That project, touted as creating 13,000 jobs and which Trump declared would be the "eighth wonder of the world" during the site's inauguration in 2018, never materialized.
The Republican tycoon came there "literally holding a golden shovel," Biden told several hundred people in Racine County.
"Are you kidding me? Look what happened. They dug a hole with those golden shovels and then they fell into it... Foxconn turned out to be just that: a con."
The datacenter will create 2,300 union construction jobs, followed by 2,000 permanent jobs, the White House said in a statement.
"Everything that we're doing, here ... is also benefiting directly from the work of this White House, of this president," said Brad Smith, Microsoft vice chair and president.
Racine and Wisconsin lost manufacturing jobs during Trump's 2017-2021 presidency.
Since Biden took office, nearly 4,000 jobs have been added in Racine -- roughly a third in manufacturing -- and 177,000 jobs have been added in Wisconsin, according to White House figures.
The upper Midwestern state, whose economy is based both on farming and industry, is an epicenter of this year's fierce US election battle.
A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday puts Biden in the lead there, with 50 percent to Trump's 44 percent in a two-way race.
But the gap shrinks to almost nothing when expanded to include three other potential candidates, including independent Robert F. Kennedy.
Wisconsin is among the handful of swing states -- including Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania -- that hold the key to presidential victory in 2024.
It is no coincidence the Republican Party has chosen to hold its nominating convention this summer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Biden has already made multiple campaign stops in the state this year.
His Democratic Party, meanwhile, will hold its national convention in August in Chicago, Illinois, where Biden is headed for a fundraising visit on Wednesday.
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Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
