Column: Clinton and Trump campaign into the early hours of election day
The 2016 campaign has consumed my life since the middle of 2015 and so I felt compelled to watch it bleed into the wee hours of election day as the two candidates for president delivered their post-midnight, final campaign speeches. Donald Trump was addressing a big rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., — alone. Hillary Clinton was speaking to a big crowd in Raleigh, N.C., backed up by her husband, President Bill Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, with chanteuse Lady Gaga and rock icon Jon Bon Jovi standing beside them.
The final TV tableaus were fitting. Trump, a man at war with major factions of his own party, is a one-man show. For Hillary, it takes a village.
Trump has been bragging that he draws big crowds single-handedly, while Hillary needs superstar surrogates to fill a hall. That is actually not true — Clinton has done as well as Trump when she flies solo — but, on the last day of the campaign, she certainly packed the program with big names. At a massive gathering outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia, she had not only Bill, Chelsea and Bon Jovi with her, but also Bruce Springsteen, President Barack Obama and the most popular woman in the country, First Lady Michelle Obama.
Trump was stuck with alt-right rocker Ted Nugent who made news by grabbing his crotch and calling his private parts “the blue states.”
Being a celebrity himself, Trump doesn’t need any backing. He has held the country spellbound at least since the first Republican primary debate when he got into a nasty exchange about sexism with moderator Megyn Kelly. The fascination with Trump developed despite the fact he had no idea how to give a proper speech. His oratory was an exercise in meandering, self-impressed stream of consciousness.
He has gotten better, though. Trump’s Grand Rapids speech was an effective melding of his informal style with a reasonably coherent set of talking points. A few lines, in particular, stood out:
“One core question for you to consider: Do you want America to be ruled by the corrupt political class or do you want America to be ruled by the people?... Today is our independence day. Today the American working class is going to strike back.”
In a year when so many voters are in rebellion against the status quo, that is a powerful message. But Trump could never stick with a serious theme for long. He tweeted his way into an endless string of personal controversies that made him look like an unstable, clownish bully. Clinton was beatable. If the final polls are not wildly mistaken, though, by tonight Trump will become the thing he most despises: a loser.
Hillary was not the world’s greatest orator either when the campaign began, but she got better. Her speech in Raleigh was an example of how she has learned to modulate her voice and speak from her heart as much as from her head. Given Trump’s enormous deficits in knowledge, experience, discipline and common decency, one might ask why she had to campaign so hard right into the early hours of voting day. Still, as the ultimate insider running in a year when so many people are ready to smash the system and try something different, it is impressive that Clinton appears poised for a solid victory.
Despite those good prospects, Hillary did not seem to be taking anything for granted on the campaign’s last night. She told the North Carolina crowd how Bon Jovi had enjoyed himself so much at the Philadelphia rally that he hitched a ride to Raleigh on the Clinton campaign plane. Then she drew from the lyrics of Bon Jovi’s most popular song to make it clear she knows the election will not be over until every vote is cast.
“Between now and the time the polls close tomorrow,” Hillary said, “we’re gonna be livin’ on a prayer.”
Follow me at @davidhorsey on Twitter
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