In Rocky US Presidential Election, Clinton, Trump Fight for North Carolina, Florida Votes
Electoral College map favors Clinton to win Tuesday Election
As the United States presidential election reaches fever pitch tomorrow, the Electoral College, not the polls, will determine who…
As the United States presidential election reaches fever pitch tomorrow, the Electoral College, not the polls, will determine who wins this year’s presidential election between the Republican candidate, Donald Trump and his Democratic Party counterpart, Hillary Clinton.
The two candidates who are statistically tied in national polls used the weekend to make pitches to voters in Florida and North Carolina, the two critical states that may decide the next occupants of the White House.
Trump campaigned in the all-important North Carolina on Saturday with his wife, Melania and his son Eric. At a rally in Wilmington, Trump said: “It is an amazing period we are going through… but we are going to win North Carolina. Real change begins with immediately repealing Obamacare. Hillary Clinton wants to double down on Obamacare, making it more expensive. I am asking you for your vote so that we can repeal and replace Obamacare and safe health care not only for North Carolina but for the country.”
He made his case further catching in on the F.B.I’s renewed inquiry into Clinton’s controversial email during his tenure as Secretary of State. “We are going to win North Carolina and we are going to win back the White House. Real change will also mean restoring honesty to government. As you know the FBI has reopened the criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton,” Trump said in a final push for vote casting Clinton in a criminal mode. “They are also conducting a second criminal investigation. It has just been confirmed that 650,000 new emails were discovered...”
But his speech suffered miscarriage in Nevada, a Clinton stronghold, when he was rushed off the stage by security operative, following security alert that a dangerous protester was in the front-row at the rally. Campaigning in North Carolina, Clinton made her final push for votes a referendum on Trump, as she continues to talk about Trump’s bigotry and lack of respect for women, minorities and the disabled.
Clinton said that Trump’s comments are encouraging oth- ers adding, “He’s giving a dog whistle to his supporters. [He’s] endorsed by the official paper of the KKK.” In Pembroke Florida, where sudden rainfall held her back from speaking for a long time, Clinton reminded voters of a dark future that America face, if Trump is elected.
She asked everyone to get out and vote on Tuesday saying, “I want to be the president for everybody. So let’s get out, let’s vote for the future.” Clinton chief surrogate, President Barack Obama, at a rally in North Carolina told voters, “I trust Clinton.”
He made a passionate appeal to black voters to turnout the votes, saying “We can’t be complacent. All the progress that we’ve made these last eight years goes out the window if we don’t win this election. So we’ve got to work our hearts out this week, these last four days, as if our future depends on it -- because our future depends on it.”
“If you believe we’re stronger together, then we can’t elect a President who vilifies minorities, mocks Americans with disabilities, calls immigrants criminals and rapists,” Obama said. “We can’t elect a President who brags that being famous allows him to get away with something that, if you read the description, qualified as sexual assault; who calls women “pigs,” “dogs,” and “slobs” and grades them on a scale of one to 10. That’s not America. This is not a Democrat or a Republican. That’s not America.”
The Electoral College has been a big part of the US presidential elections and Florida and North Carolina have 29 and 15 votes respectively, making them swing states.
In presidential election, a candidate needs the majority of the Electoral College— 270 out of 538 electoral votes— to win the White House on Election Day.
The Clinton campaign team believes it could block Trump’s path to the White House by winning either of the two critical states, where it now has the slight edge according to the record of early vote. Other states with huge electoral votes such as Texas with 38 and California with 55 are not in the play, because they are conservatively Republican and Democrats strongholds, though the Democratic Party is making serious incursion into the Republican hold of Texas.