DECISION DAY ARRIVES FOR U.S. VOTERS
Workers prepare flags at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York, where Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is set to hold her election night event. Both Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump are in New York for the 2016 U.S. elec
On Monday morning, Mare Donly sent an email to a Calgary bar that contained recipes for two new cocktails. “One is the Nasty Woman, the other the Bad Hombre,” says Donly with a laugh, of the drinks created by one of her fellow Americans.
“They’re going to make them for customers while we watch the election results,” says the native of California who’s called Calgary home the past 13 years. “We might as well have a little fun with it.”
As far as the 2016 U.S. presidential election goes, fun hasn’t been front and centre for her and thousands of other American expats living in Calgary. “There are so many words to describe it, but I would say ‘unprecedented’ is at the top,” says Donly, who served for several years as the chair for the local chapter of Democrats Abroad. “So many people have been feeling anxious, stressed and totally baffled by the presence of Donald Trump in the race.”
Indeed, there have been few U.S. elections in recent memory that have caused so many of her neighbours, both in Calgary and across the country, to join in on the angst and upset that has become almost as severe as it has for those south of the border.
No need to look far for expressions of distress on the eve of the U.S. election: My own Facebook feed has been filled with such quotes as “I was left with a pit in my stomach and whiplash from continuously shaking my head,” after one poster watched a documentary on Donald Trump; on another, a woman noted how she received the first hate mail of her life for merely suggesting “Donald Trump does make a few good points.”
Along with local Twitter users retweeting numerous stories — most of them anti-Trump, as polling shows 68 per cent of Canadians support Hillary Clinton — prominent Calgarians and Canadians have put in their two cents.
At the news conference announcing his third campaign for mayor in 2017, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Trump’s campaign “shows how simple it is for someone who has a microphone to open the closet door and let the monsters out,” while in a CBC interview, expat Canadian Malcolm Gladwell predicts Trump “will be in jail within a year” and that Hillary Clinton’s unpopularity with many is rooted in sexism.
Duane Bratt isn’t surprised that so many of his fellow Canadians have been swept up in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, more even than when Barack Obama became the first African-American to win the White House in 2008. “We follow American elections closely,” says Bratt, a Mount Royal University political scientist. “We watch for two important reasons: one, for the impact it might have on us as Canadians and, two, because it’s the most important country in the world, right next door to us.”
Still, Bratt has also noticed the intense passions this one has aroused even in Canadians who normally pay little attention. “So much of it is unprecedented,” he says, echoing Donly’s observation. “We were pulled into the entertainment side of it, which at first was like a sideshow; then it got very, very scary.”
Along with the shared angst and fear, many of us, says Bratt, have seized on the opportunity to once again indulge in that most Canadian of pastimes: “It’s allowed us to be very superior and sanctimonious. A lot of people here are getting on their high horse as they watch what’s been happening, saying a Trump character could never rise in Canada.”
Bratt says that thanks to Trump, political scientists will be studying this election for the next several years. “I’m less interested in the result on Tuesday night, because I can’t see a path where Hillary Clinton loses,” he says, hedging his bets on the veteran politician being the first female U.S. president. “I’m interested in the immediate aftermath. How does Trump react? What does the Republican party do?”
He’s not surprised that so many of his fellow Canadians have been shocked and outraged by the nastiest election in U.S. history, whether they be Clinton or Trump supporters (a Nanos Research survey this week found support for Clinton is weakest in the Prairies).
“This has been the most depressing U.S. election I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been watching them closely since the early 1980s,” he says, stating emphatically that he believes Trump would be a disastrous president due to his lack of knowledge, policy and temperament, among other things. “We are going to look back at this and wonder, how did this guy get so close to becoming president?”
For her part, Donly has been working hard to make sure he doesn’t. She’s been busy phoning voters in states like Florida and Colorado, arguing the case for Clinton.
“I don’t want to be too assured, but I’m feeling very hopeful,” she says, adding she’ll join her fellow expat Americans at what she cautiously predicts will be a victory celebration Tuesday night.
“This has taken a toll on everyone,” says Donly. “It’s not just Canadians who are obsessed along with us, it’s the whole world — because this election really matters.”
HILLARY CLINTON, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN LATE INTO THE NIGHT IN FINAL PUSH FOR WHITE HOUSE
Straining toward the finish line of the wildly unpredictable White House race, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump blitzed through battleground states Monday in a final bid to energize supporters.
Clinton urged voters to embrace a “hopeful, inclusive, big-hearted America,” while Trump called for support to “beat the corrupt system.”
The candidates planned to campaign 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 opened the day Monday buoyed by FBI Director James Comey’s announcement Sunday that he would not recommend criminal charges against her following a new email review. The 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.
“I think I have some work to do to bring the country together,” she acknowledged. “I really do want to be the president for everybody.”
As Clinton took the stage in Pittsburgh, supporters yelled out, “We love you” — an unusual occurrence for the Democratic presidential candidate who has sometimes struggled to connect with voters.
“I love you all, too. Absolutely,” Clinton said with a slight chuckle.
Trump was aggressive to the end, repeatedly slamming Clinton at his first event of the day in Sarasota, Fla. Having made the new FBI review a centrepiece of his closing case to voters, he argued that Clinton 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.”
The comments were a reminder that Comey’s news, delivered in a letter to lawmakers on Sunday, was a doubled-edged sword for Clinton. While it vindicated her claims that the emails would not yield new evidence, it ensured that a controversy that has dogged her campaign from the start would follow her through Election Day.
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 more than half of the roughly 42.5 million people who had cast votes by Monday afternoon, according to Associated Press data.
The inquiry involved material found on a computer belonging to Anthony Weiner, the disgraced former congressman and estranged husband of Huma Abedin, a longtime Clinton aide. Comey said Sunday the FBI reviewed communications “to or from Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state.”
Clinton tried to fly above the controversy Monday and was not expected to address the matter during stops in Michigan and North Carolina. She was also headlining an evening rally in Philadelphia with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, along with rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi.
Nearing the end of his two terms in the White House, Obama was nostalgic as he launched his own busy day of events, noting that he was probably making his last campaign swing for the foreseeable future.
“Whatever credibility I have earned after eight years as president, I am asking you to trust me on this. I am voting for Hillary Clinton,” Obama said.
Clinton is banking in part on high turnout — particularly among Obama’s young, diverse coalition of voters — to carry her over the finish line Tuesday.
Roughly half the states with advance voting have reported record turnout, including Florida and Nevada, which have booming Hispanic populations, a possible good sign for Clinton.
In Florida alone, Hispanic participation is up by more than 453,000 votes, nearly doubling the 2012 level. Black turnout is up compared to 2012, but that share of the total vote is lower due to bigger jumps among Latinos and whites.
In Nevada, where more than three-fourths of expected ballots have been cast, Democrats also lead, 42 per cent to 36 per cent.
Trump deputy campaign manager David Bossie downplayed the impact of increased Hispanic participation, telling reporters on a conference call, “We feel that we’re going to get a good share of those votes.” However, he sidestepped two questions about the level of Hispanic vote Trump needs to win the presidency.
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 planned to campaign at a breakneck pace through Election Day. Following the rally in Florida, he headed to North Carolina and then was off to Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. After voting in New York Tuesday morning, Trump was to return to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and New Hampshire.
Midway through his travels Monday, Trump praised his supporters for having created a “movement.” But he warned it would all slip away if he loses Tuesday.
“Go vote,” he urged. “Or honestly, we’ve all wasted our time.”