7 November 2024

The world waits on America

TIM ROSS

It may be the end of the beginning.

After the most dramatic of election contests, in which one candidate dropped out with barely three months to go and his rival was almost assassinated, the campaign to become the next president of the United States will soon be over.

Over, that is, bar the counting. And the likely recounting, legal challenges, contested rulings, appeals, angry protests and wild conspiracy theories to explain how the losing side was robbed of victory.

On Monday night, the two candidates closed their campaigns by focusing on the biggest prize of all the battleground states: Pennsylvania. With 19 votes in the U.S. electoral college up for grabs, the state is expected to be decisive, offering the winner a clear path to power.

A packed final rally for Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, the state’s biggest city, featured music from Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga, and a speech from Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff. TV megastar Oprah Winfrey also spoke, introducing Harris to an ecstatic crowd.

The audience, numbering in the tens of thousands, joined in the singing at the “Rocky Steps” leading up to the Museum of Art, the city landmark made famous by Sylvester Stallone’s boxing film. People had waited around four hours for the vice president.

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