Hillary
Clinton and Donald Trump reunited with their families on the campaign
trail Monday evening at a pair of huge swing-state rallies that signaled
an end to their respective marathon presidential campaigns.
Clinton
met up with her husband Bill and her daughter Chelsea in Philadelphia,
where they were joined at the outdoor event across from Independence
Hall by President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and musicians Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi.
'Thank
you for coming out for one last rally before election day tomorrow,'
Clinton said at the Pennsylvania rally and concert. 'I am so happy to be
finishing this campaign with my husband and my daughter by my side.'
Trump,
his adult children - Tiffany, Eric, Don Jr. and Ivanka - their spouses -
Lara, Vanessa and Jared - and his VP pick, Mike Pence, campaigned in
Manchester, New Hampshire. The White House candidate's wife Melania and
young son Barron were noticeably absent from the family portrait.
'I've
been reading about Hillary Clinton having all these surrogates,' Trump
said at his rally, when a laser light show and fog machines were
switched off. 'I had the best surrogates of all,' he asserted, meaning
his kids. 'They were all over.'
Donald Trump, pictured, added a
final campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a traditional Democratic
heartland, but the Republicans think they might be able to turn the
state red by securing the support of disillusioned rust belt workers
The
president spent much of the last seven days crossing the country for
Clinton, and he delivered a stirring defense of her at tonight's rally,
near the building where the nation's founding fathers signed the
Constitution.
He
urged Americans to 'reject a politics of resentment and a politics of
blame and choose a politics that says we are stronger together,'
Clinton's slogan, and to'reject fear and choose hope' on Election Day.
The
Democratic politician who trounced Clinton in the 2008 primaries only
to name her as his secretary of state hailed his party's nominee as
'this fighter, this stateswoman, this mother, this grandmother, this
patriot – our next president of the United States of America'.
Trump meanwhile called his opponent the 'face of failure' as he appealed to 'all of the Democratic voters in our country who are thirsting for change like everybody else.'
'Everybody
is thirsting, thirsting for change,' he said during the third of five
rallies scheduled for the final day of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Campaigning in Pennsylvania, he said, 'She's the face of failure! She's the face of failed foreign policy.'
At
his final rally of the night, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which wrapped
up shortly after 1am today, he vowed: 'I am with you. I will fight for
you. And I will win for you. I promise.'
While voting is already underway, he was making a final pitch:
'The election is now. The election is now. Can you believe it?' he asked. 'It's today. It's today. It's unbelievable.'
'You
can make every dream you've ever dreamed for your country and your
family come true. You have one magnificent chance to beat this corrupt,
rigged system and to deliver justice for every forgotten man and
forgotten woman and forgotten child in this nation.'
As
he heard the roar of applause for the last time as a candidate, he
issued one final instruction: 'Go to bed! Go to bed right now! Get up
and vote!'
The twin senses of finality and uncertainty hung in the air as Trump worked to add extra flourishes to his stump speech.
Hoping
for one last shout of 'Mexico' at a signature moment, he acknowledged
the lateness of the hour: 'I just want to ask you one question, if you
don't mind, at 1 o'clock in the morning: Who is going to pay for the
wall?'
Finishing
a favorite anecdote about cars that once were made in Flint and water
that no one could drink in Mexico – and making his switcheroo – he
boomed that 'you can't drink the damned water in Flint!'
'What the hell? Unbelievable!' Trump sniped.
Hillary Clinton attracted her usual share of barbs.
'We are finally going to close the books on the Clintons, and their lies, their schemes and corruption,' he said.
But
in a rust-belt state that has hemorrhaged jobs for decades, the
Republican rested on his unconventional partnership with grease monkeys
and welders, janitors and mechanics.
'Today is our Independence Day,' he said, forging the last bit of kinship with them.
'Today the American working class is going to strike back, finally.'
Clinton
mostly stuck to her stump, going after Trump for his battle with Gold
Star father Khizr Khan, a Muslim whose son, Captain Humayun Khan, died
in Iraq, attesting that she has the 'stamina' to be president, vowing to
'build bridges, not walls' and telling her audience in closing that
'love trumps hate.'
Channeling
her surroundings, Clinton commented on her love of country, and 'what
it stands for,' adding, 'not that we are blind to its flaws, its
problems, its challenges.'
'I
believe with all my heart that America’s best days are still ahead of
us, if we reach for them together,' she said. 'We choose to believe in a
hopeful, inclusive, big-hearted America, an America where everyone has a
place, everyone is included, everyone has a chance to live up to their
own God-given potential.'
Obama said he was 'betting' that Americans wouldn't let them down.
'You
bet on me all those years ago, and I will always be grateful for the
privilege you gave me to serve. But I’ll be honest with you: I’ve always
had the better odds because I’ve always bet on you,' he told the crowd.
'And America, I’m betting on you one more time.'
The
president predicted that mothers and fathers 'across America won’t cast
their vote for someone who denigrates their daughters from the highest
office in the land' and that 'most Americans won’t vote for someone who
considers minorities and immigrants and people with disabilities as
inferior, who considers people who practice different faiths as objects
of suspicion.'
Standing in
front of the building where Americans forged their founding documents,
he said, 'I’m betting that tomorrow, true conservatives won’t cast their
vote for someone with no regard for the Constitution.'
Young
people should turn out because 'your future is at stake,' he lectured.
African-Americans should back Clinton 'because this journey we’ve been
on was never about the color of a president but the content of his or
her character.'
'I’m
betting that men across this country will have no problem voting for
the more qualified candidate who happens to be a woman,' he said. 'I’m
betting that the wisdom and decency and generosity of the American
people will once again win the day. And that is a bet that I have never,
ever lost.'
Making
one of his most forceful cases for Clinton of the campaign, Obama said,
'If you want a president who shares our faith in America, who’s lived
that faith in America, who will finally shatter a glass ceiling and be a
president for each and every one of us, then I am asking you to work as
hard as you can this one last day.'
Clinton took the stage after Obama and hailed him and his family's 'grace, strength, brilliance, and a whole lot of cool.'
She continued by saying she was proud to serve in 'I am proud that I could watch the extraordinary service of our first lady.
'Like
them, I love America, and I know you do too,' Clinton said. 'We love
what it stands for – not that we are blind to its problems, it's
challenges.'
Clinton urged voters to go to the polling stations on Election Day.
'I'm
pretty sure that the best way to thank them is to do something really
important tomorrow,' she continued. 'Every single one of you and every
person you know. Because as the president just pointed out, there is a
clear choice in this election.
'A
choice between division and unity. Between an economy that works for
everyone or only those at the top. Between a strong leadership or a
loose cannon who could put everything at risk.'
Her
star-studded event helped the Democrat attract the largest crowd of the
election. Her campaign says 33,000 people showed up and several
thousand more couldn't get in.
Clinton expressed pride at having served in Obama's cabinet, adding: 'I love America and I know you love you too.
'I
believe with all my heart that America's best days are still ahead of
us if we reach for them together. We choose to believe in a hopeful,
inclusive, big-hearted
America. An America where everyone has a place,
everyone's included, everyone has a chance to live up to their own
God-given potential.'
Clinton
apologized for the angry tone the campaign took for the past few
months, prompting someone from the crowd to yell: 'Not your fault!'
When
it was over, Bill Clinton joined his wife on her campaign plane, with
Bon Jovi along for the flight to Raleigh, North Carolina for a midnight
rally.
The two walked back towards the press. Clinton made a gesture like she couldn't hear, with a smile. Bill spoke briefly.
Clinton
planned to extend her final day on the trail even longer with a
greeting with staff and supporters planned for her arrival in
Westchester as late as 3 am.
Huma
Abedin, the vice-chairwoman of Clinton's campaign, was spotted stepping
off the campaign plane Monday night - meaning she is back on the trail
after laying low for a few days.
Abedin
became a rare sight on the campaign trail after the FBI announced on
October 28 it would probe some of her emails found on estranged husband
Anthony Weiner's laptop. Weiner was being investigated due to
accusations that he sent explicit messages and photos to a 15-year-old
girl.
The
bureau announced two days before the election that the latest
investigation wouldn't lead to criminal charges against Clinton.
Clinton
completed her celebrity-packed final campaign tour with an appearance
in Raleigh, North – featuring performances by Lady Gaga and Jon Bon Jovi
on the campus of North Carolina State University.
‘By the time the poll closes tomorrow we are gonna be “Livin’ on a Prayer,’ Clinton quipped.
She also got words of support from the performers.
‘We
can’t elect somebody that doesn’t care for the people. We can only
elect somebody who does,’ said Gaga. When she did her hit ‘Born this
Way,’ she added, ‘Don’t judge me cuz I’m voting for Hillary, I was just
born this way.’
Then
she joined with Bon Jovi on his hit, ‘Livin’ on a Prayer,’ taking the
high part in an acoustic duet. ‘We just started this in a phone call. So
we are truly doing this together for the first time,’ Bon Jovi told the
screaming crowd.
‘The
time is here the time is now,’ Bon Jovi said when they were done. ‘This
state is razor close and that’s why the two of us are here. North
Carolina, you know that the road to the White House leads through your
state,’ he said.
Lady Gaga also performed ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Angel Down’ – a song she prefaced by saying ‘Black Lives Matter.’
Bill Clinton implored the crowd, ‘I would ask you not to quit until the polls close.’
He
referenced a sign from the crowd that said, ‘Dorothy was right, you own
yourself,’ a reference to Hillary Clinton’s mom. ‘She was an
unbelievable human being, and she was right,’ Bill Clinton said.
Both Trump and Clinton wrapped up their last day on the campaign trail around 1am.
Michelle
Obama spoke earlier Monday evening in Philadelphia, telling the crowd
how speaking at Clinton's rally was the last and perhaps most important
thing she could do for her country as first lady.
She thanked the American people for giving her family the honor of serving as first family.
'We
believe that our responsibility to you doesn't end when we leave the
White House,' she said. 'We deserve a leader who will ensure that our
daughters are safe and respected and that our sons understand that truly
strong men are compassionate and kind.
'We
deserve a leader who sees our diversity not as a threat, but as a
blessing. A leader who sees us not as rich or poor but as hard-working
folks who do the best we can with what we have.'
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