The North Carolina Republican, locked in a tight race for reelection, quipped that as he walked into a gun shop "nothing made me feel better" than seeing a magazine about rifles "with a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front of it."

"I was a little bit shocked at that -- it didn't have a bullseye on it," he said Saturday to GOP volunteers, prompting laughter from the crowd in Mooresville, North Carolina. "But on the bottom right (of the magazine), it had everybody for federal office in this particular state that they should vote for. So let me assure you, there's an army of support out there right now for our candidates."

Trump campaign chief executive Stephen K. Bannon has settled on three states in particular — Michigan, Wisconsin and New Mexico — where the candidate and campaign will devote more time and money, according to four people familiar with the discussions who requested anonymity to discuss internal campaign talks. All three states were won by Obama in 2008 and 2012.

Bannon believes that if GOP voters rapidly “come home” nationally in light of recent events, that turnout plus late-breaking support among independents and blue-collar workers could bring new states into play beyond Pennsylvania, Nevada and Colorado — Democratic strongholds where Trump has been campaigning for months and remains behind, the people said.