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Trump, Clinton make final pitches ahead of historic election

Author
AAP,
Publish Date
Tue, 8 Nov 2016, 5:00PM
US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton (Photo / NZH)

Trump, Clinton make final pitches ahead of historic election

Author
AAP,
Publish Date
Tue, 8 Nov 2016, 5:00PM

Closing out a wildly unpredictable White House race, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have blitzed through battleground states in a final bid to energise supporters.

LISTEN ABOVE: US correspondents Paul Krishnamurty and Steve Merczynski speak with Larry Williams ahead of election day in the US

Clinton, backed by an emotional appeal from Barack Obama, urged voters to embrace a "hopeful, inclusive, bighearted America," while Trump vowed to "beat the corrupt system."

The candidates rallied voters late into the night, a frenzied end to a bitter election year that has laid bare the nation's deep economic and cultural divides. Clinton and Trump were both nostalgic at times, looking back fondly at a campaign that has put each on the brink of the presidency.

Clinton campaigned with confidence, buoyed by FBI Director James Comey's announcement on Sunday that he would not recommend criminal charges against her following a new email review.

The FBI inquiry had sapped a surging Clinton momentum at a crucial moment in the race, though she still heads into Election Day with multiple paths to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become the nation's first female president.

Clinton closed her campaign alongside the last two Democrats to occupy the Oval Office, Obama and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as well as first lady Michelle Obama.

In a nod to the deep divisions that await the next president, Clinton said she'd come to "regret deeply how angry the tone of the campaign became." She cast the choice facing voters on Tuesday as a "test of our time."

"We know enough about my opponent, we know who he is," Clinton said, addressing tens of thousands of people sprawled across Philadelphia's Independence Mall. "The real question for us is what kind of country we want to be."

Obama's address amounted to a valedictory for a president whose popularity has grown in his final year in office.

"America, I'm betting on you one more time," Obama said. "I am betting that tomorrow you will reject fear and choose hope."

Trump, who sped through five rallies Monday, recalled the rivals he'd vanquished and how far he's come since launching his improbable candidacy. As he surveyed the crowd in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he declared, "It's been a long journey."

Still, Trump was aggressive to the end, slamming Clinton as the "face of failure." Having made the new FBI review a centrepiece of his closing case to voters, he argued that the Democrat was being protected by a "totally rigged system."

"You have one magnificent chance to beat the corrupt system and deliver justice," Trump said. "Do not let this opportunity slip away."

Across the country, nearly 24 million early ballots were cast under the shadow of Comey's initial announcement of a new email review. That number represents about half of the nearly 45 million people who had cast votes by Monday, according to Associated Press data.

Without victories in Florida and Nevada, Trump's path to 270 electoral votes would be exceedingly narrow. He already must win nearly all of the roughly dozen battleground states.

Trump had planned to keep up his breakneck travel schedule deep into Election Day, but aides revised plans, keeping the businessman in New York.

Midway through his final day of travel Monday, Trump praised his supporters for having created a "movement." But he warned it would all slip away if he loses on Tuesday.

"Go vote," he urged. "Or honestly, we've all wasted our time."

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