The Arizona Republic

Combat centers on court

- Police officers stand outside the Thomas & Mack Center before the third presidenti­al debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Wednesday in Las Vegas.

average people and not just the “powerful,” and Trump said he would nominate justices with “a conservati­ve bent.”

Clinton said the court “raises the central issue in this election” and should protect women’s rights and marriage equality, as well as reverse the Citizens United decision that has “undermined” the electoral system. “I have major disagreeme­nts with my opponent about these issues and others,” she said.

Trump said, “The Supreme Court is what it’s all about.” He contended that the Second Amendment right to bear arms “is under absolute siege,” and he warned that if Clinton is elected, “it will be a very very small replica of what it is now.”

Clinton reiterated her respect for the Second Amendment and said it is not incompatib­le with “reasonable regulation” to keep guns away from “people who shouldn’t have guns.”

The candidates’ final debate was their last opportunit­y to reach an audience of millions of voters. They had far different goals as they presented their closing arguments to America.

On abortion, Clinton made clear she will defend a woman’s right to choose. Trump berated her for backing late-term abortions. Clinton noted that she supports late-term abortion in cases to defend the life of the mother. “I do not think the United States government should be stepping in and making those most personal of decisions,” she said.

Trump called it “terrible if you go with what Hillary is saying,” because it would allow a doctor to “rip the baby out of the womb of the mother” in the ninth month. “It’s not OK with me,” he said. Clinton said Trump misreprese­nted the circumstan­ces of most late-term abortions: “That is not what happens in these cases, and using that kind of scare rhetoric is terribly unfortunat­e,” she said.

On immigratio­n, Clinton argued that Trump’s deportatio­n plan is tantamount to a national effort to round up people and put them on trains and buses to get them out of the country. “That is an idea that is not in keeping with who we are as a nation” and “would rip our country apart.”

She called for an immigratio­n policy that includes border security and took aim at Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the border with Mexico. Trump stressed that he would force all undocument­ed immigrants to return to their home country: “We have some bad hombres here, and we’re gonna get em out,” he said.

Clinton called it a “rank mischaract­erization” that she is for totally open borders before accusing Russia is hacking her campaign emails. The hacks are coming “from the highest levels of the Kremlin,” she said.

Trump refused to accept U.S. intelligen­ce reports that Russia is behind the cyberattac­ks that exposed emails from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. “That was a great pivot off the fact that she wants open borders,” Trump said before getting into a tussle with Clinton about which one of them is a “puppet” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A gloves-off tone was apparent from the beginning as the families and candidates bypassed the customary handshake.

Real estate billionair­e Trump has been the underdog in nearly every single national poll conducted in the past week, a deficit that could translate into a crushing defeat in the Electoral College. Surveys showed traditiona­lly Republican states such as Arizona in play.

Clinton looks to maximize her appeal to independen­t and soft Republican voters. If polls are accurate that she’s the prohibitiv­e winner, her next challenge will be to unify the country behind her, which looks increasing­ly difficult in an election among the nastiest and most personal.

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