Donald Trump and Joe Biden held campaign rallies in the US state of Georgia at a time when their pre-election clash is becoming increasingly clear.
The 77-year-old former president slammed Biden's State of the Union speech as an "angry, dark and hate-filled tirade."
An hour later, the 81-year-old President Biden presented new reinforcements, with which he goes on the attack against his rival.
Now both are one step away from winning their respective party nominations for president.
So far, Trump has collected 1,076 delegates and is 139 short of the number needed to secure the Republican nomination. Biden has collected 1,859 delegates, 109 short of the delegates he needs to secure the Democratic mandate.
In a speech in the northwestern city of Rome, Trump attacked his "grossly incompetent" opponent for "the most divisive, biased and radical speech ever delivered by a president in this room."
"Joe Biden shouldn't be yelling at America," he said.
He also touched on border security and the killing last month of Laken Riley, a Georgia college student who was allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant.
According to a Gallup poll released last month, immigration is currently the top issue for U.S. voters.
In the presence of supporters who held up pictures of Ms Riley, as well as her family and friends, the former president vowed to "demand justice for Laken" and "seal the border".
He also chided Mr Biden for backtracking on comments he made during the State of the Union address in which he called the suspect "illegal". In an interview with MSNBC, the president expressed regret that he did not use the term preferred by Democrats - "undocumented".
Biden gave a speech to his supporters in the state capital, Atlanta. He attacked Trump, who on Friday hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at his Florida home, for "fostering would-be dictators and authoritarian thugs around the world."
Reframing November's general election as "a contest between competing forces in a battle for the soul of this nation," the president reiterated his view that "Mr. Trump's history of offense, revenge and retribution" was not in voters' interest.
Fresh from the impact of the State of the Union address, watched on television by more than 32 million Americans, Biden's re-election campaign is on the offensive.
He visited Pennsylvania on Friday and will hold rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin next week, while members of his administration also tour the country.
In the coming weeks, "we will greatly expand our volunteer engagement, increase our staffing in battle areas, launch our coalition groups and invest in new media campaigns," said campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
One of those ads — which will go to voters in seven swing states over the next six weeks — was released earlier on March 9 and directly addresses concerns about his age.
The president repeated many of the highlights of his address on Capitol Hill, speaking with an energy that seems to be embedded in his new style.
Maintaining that momentum over the next eight months will be a challenge, but it's no surprise that his latest showdown with Trump came in Georgia.
Based on the results of their 2020 race, the southern state is the most swing state in the country. Then Biden won by less than 12,000 votes./BGNES
