CLEVELAND: Hillary Clinton entered the final phase of her campaign on Friday, working to ensure a victory that is decisive enough to earn a mandate for her presidency and a surge of voters to help Democrats win congressional races.
Emerging from a nine-day absence from the trail, Clinton seized on the momentum of her performance in the final presidential debate, choosing Ohio — a battleground state where she has struggled the most against Donald Trump — as her first stop on a four-day swing. With new polls showing Clinton closing in on Trump in the state, her campaign is glimpsing the opportunity for a clean sweep of traditional swing states.
Reminding voters of Trump’s refusal in Wednesday’s debate to say definitively he would accept the outcome on Election Day, Clinton said that as secretary of state she had visited countries whose leaders jailed political opponents and invalidated elections they did not win.
“We know in our country the difference between leadership and dictatorship,” she said.
She also portrayed herself as the candidate who could attract independent, undecided and even Republican voters unhappy with Trump’s campaign.
“I want to say something to people who may be reconsidering their support of my opponent,” she said. “I know you still may have questions for me. I respect that. I want to answer them. I want to earn your vote.”
Her stop here marked the start of a rare multiday tour of swing states as the Clinton campaign revved up its efforts to decisively defeat Trump on November 8, including releasing a powerful minute-long ad featuring Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim US soldier killed in Iraq. The ad featuring Khan, who was attacked by Trump after he spoke at the Democratic convention, will run in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and North Carolina as well as other crucial states.
With Clinton holding a healthy lead in most national polls, Democrats have turned their focus to trying to ensure victory by as large a margin as possible, deploying Michelle Obama in Arizona and President Barack Obama in Florida. The larger the victory, the less Trump and his supporters can claim foul play, Clinton’s allies said.
A month ago, Ohio seemed to be aligning as a Trump stronghold, as its large bloc of white working-class voters responded to Trump’s economic populism and America-first message. But the state is now back in play, with a poll from Suffolk University in Boston showing a tied race.
Clinton’s afternoon rally at a community college in Cleveland, the heart of Democratic strength in Ohio, was aimed at increasing early voting, which began last week.
While early voting has traditionally been a Democratic strength in Ohio, the data shows potential complications for Clinton on this front. Requests for early ballots are down 22.3 per cent in Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is, compared with the same period in 2012. Requests are also off 12.7 per cent in Franklin County, which includes Columbus, the capital, according to data compiled by Michael McDonald, a University of Florida professor who studies voter turnout.
Ohio is not essential to Clinton’s road to the White House. She could lose it and still romp through the Electoral College given her dominance in other swing states like Virginia, Pennsylvania and Colorado, according to polls.
Trump spent the day hopscotching to rallies in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, a state where Clinton has built a formidable lead. While he projected a subdued confidence at a rally in Fletcher, North Carolina, he also seemed to prepare for at least the possibility of an Election Day loss.
“I don’t know what kind of shape I’m in, but I’ll be happy, and at least I will have known, win, lose or draw — and I’m almost sure, if the people come out, we’re going to win — I will be happy with myself,” he said.
At his rally in Fletcher, he offered a slightly more restrained version of his typically freewheeling speech, largely hewing to his prepared remarks.
Gone were his complaints of a “rigged” and “stolen” election — they have drawn condemnation by Democrats and Republicans alike — and he did not, as he has recently, try to counter accusations from the 10 women who have come forward to accuse him of inappropriate sexual advances.
The Trump campaign has said that it plans to increase Trump’s schedule in the final weeks, potentially holding as many as six rallies a day. Trump explained that he wanted to have no regrets, should he lose.
“I don’t want to think back, ‘If only I did one more rally, I would have won North Carolina by 500 votes instead of losing it by 200 votes’.”
Trump’s team increasingly views North Carolina as a state that is critical to a victory in November, along with others like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Trump’s running mate, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana, visited the same town just last week.
