US presidential race tightens, but Clinton still ahead

WASHINGTON: The battle for the White House tightened on Thursday, with a fresh poll showing Hillary Clinton’s lead ebbing and Donald Trump winning over once wary Republican voters days before the monumental vote.

A CBS/New York Times survey showed Clinton leading 45 per cent to her Republican rival’s 42pc, with the vast majority of supporters saying their minds are made up.

After months of vitriolic and turbulent campaigning, political tribalism appears to be returning to the fore in the deeply divided nation ahead of Election Day on Nov 8.

Profound Republican scepticism about Trump’s controversial candidacy appears to be ebbing.

Despite the Manhattan real estate mogul’s boasts about sexual assault and allegations of groping by about a dozen women, white women are evenly split between the two candidates, the poll showed.

Similarly, Clinton’s troubles with the FBI over her use of a private email server appears to have dissuaded few Democrats, with only eight percent saying it would make them less likely to vote for the former secretary of state.

With the campaign now in its final stages, each candidate is making final arguments to voters, crisscrossing battleground states and carpet-bombing the airwaves with high-priced ads.

But neither candidate wants to make a mistake and the race has taken on a frenetic yet formulaic quality.

Even Trump is sticking to the TelePrompTer and avoiding his most explosive rhetoric as the campaign winds down.

“Nice and cool. Right? Stay on point, Donald, stay on point. No sidetracks, Donald — nice and easy,” the 70-year-old billionaire said out loud during a rally in Florida.

Instead he has warned voters that a Clinton presidency would be overshadowed by indictments, and renewed his vow to “drain the swamp” of corruption in Washington.

Clinton and her phalanx of high-powered surrogates — among them presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — have argued Trump is “uniquely unqualified” for the Oval Office.

On Monday, the eve of the election, Clinton, her husband and the Obamas will campaign together in Philadelphia in a show of Democratic force. Trump has ridden the aftershocks of the Great Recession and waves of antipathy toward the political elite to the gates of the White House.

Could he yet cause an upset? “Democrats are quite right to be nervous about the outcome,” said a team of political analysts at the University of Virginia.

But, they added, there was no “compelling argument” that the race favors Trump or is even a toss-up. Financial markets have lurched as the race as tightened — trying to “price-in” a Trump victory that they had long thought impossible.

But even at this late stage, a Trump win would be a political surprise on par with Harry Truman’s victory over Thomas Dewey in 1948.

As Trump and Clinton try to energize their base and mop up as many votes as possible, attention is increasingly turning to the political landscape after the election.

The Nov 8 polls will not only decide who wins the White House, but the scale of the new president’s mandate and who controls Congress.

Liars cannot lead a nation.

 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told a charged crowd in Kahuta on Friday, days after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) planned 'lockdown' of Islamabad on Nov 2 turned into a 'thanksgiving' rally.

"Someone who lies to you continuously cannot represent you," he said.

"They say 'Pakistan is progressing'," he said in a veiled reference to the opposition. "They know that gas and electricity are coming to these areas, that a two-lane expressway is being built. That's why they are posing obstacles, so that progress is halted and Pakistan is taken back to 50 years ago."

"The ones who hold rallies, their agenda is not one of success."

"The ones who try to stop progress, you will not let their designs succeed. You have halted their designs. You have shown them their true reflection. You already saw what happened a few days ago," he said referring to the PTI's planned Nov 2 'lockdown' which it vowed to continue until the PM resigned or presented himself for accountability amid allegations of corruption following Panamagate.

The PTI and the government have locked horns since the names of members of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's family appeared in the Panama Papers and the political atmosphere in the capital had heated up as the date of the protest drew closer.

Only after the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the government and opposition to submit their Terms of Reference for formation of a judicial commission to probe Panamagate did tensions in the capital begin to diffuse.

"I do not wish to say anything, I am keeping my tongue in check. But you are aware of what expectations they had and what the outcome was," the premier said.

"We are hard at work... No one can point accusatory fingers at us. You have three and a half years of our work before you," Nawaz said today.

"The election is going to happen in 2018, but you are cheering for me now. And this is precisely what our opponents cannot stomach," the prime minister said.

"I also love you. I love you too," the PM said, in an oft-repeated endearment.

The prime minister encouraged others to join hands with the party for progress and development in Pakistan.

During his address, the prime minister announced several development projects promising that work on them would be initiated soon.

"I didn't come here empty-handed today. The regular development programmes will continue. This is only the beginning. There will be bigger things in the future," he promised.

He announced that the Rawalpindi-Kahuta road overhead bridge will be turned into a highway, and that all union councils in Kahuta and Kallar Sayidan would receive electricity and gas.

The premier also promised to convert the Kahuta Tehsil Hospital into a state-of-the-art hospital, relieving residents of the need to travel to Rawalpindi or Islamabad for treatment.

He announced that 12 high schools will be converted into higher secondary schools, especially for the education of girls.

"Girls often have to travel far to attend school. We want to bring schools to your doorsteps," he said, adding, "This development will bring a wave of progress in the region."

"It won't be long before a university is built here," he added.

Funds will also be invested into the development of 100 kilometres of roads in Kahuta and Kallar Sayidan, PM Nawaz said.

"This is your money, it should be used for your betterment. It is not my money."

"We will make this place beautiful," he said, in a bid to encourage tourism to the area.

"Thousands of people visited Murree, Naran, Kaghan," he said. "They should come here too."

The Prime Minister said that he has raised the Kashmir issue at the United Nations General Assembly for the past three years, adding that he "Will continue to speak about it. we are not afraid of anyone."