Covering final hours of U.S. White House race

In-class exercise: Cover the final hours of the U.S. presidential campaign. We've received (mock) statements from Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.  

On the eve of Election Day, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump scrambled around the country, urging voters to consider the election critical for the future of the United States and the world. They appeared within hours of each other in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Raleigh, North Carolina.

SAMPLE REPORT:

Trump Vows to Challenge any Clinton Victory Claim in Court

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 - Donald Trump said Monday he would challenge any victory claim by Hillary Clinton before all votes are counted in the U.S. presidential race. Clinton, meanwhile,  swung away from an email controversy on Election Day eve, suggesting that early voter turnout could help her become the first female U.S president.

Trump, the Republican nominee, said that Clinton, his Democratic Party rival, was concluding what he called a “broad effort to steal this election.”

“I will challenge any victory that she may claim before all votes are counted,” Trump told a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. “And I will legally contest the outcome if the result is questionable.”

A Trump challenge to any claimed Clinton victory raised the prospect of another chapter of political maneuvering that could drag past Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, when a newly elected president is due to take office under the U.S. Constitution.  After a contested election in 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled that George W. Bush had defeated Al Gore.

Trump lashed out at James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, accusing him of bowing to “tremendous pressure” from Democrats after having announced a second examination of Clinton’s controversial email arrangements while she was President Barack Obama’s secretary of state.    

On Sunday, Comey, in a vaguely worded letter to congressional leaders, said that the FBI, the nation’s top law-enforcement agency, had found nothing to change his months-old decision not to seek charges against Clinton for her use of a private email server rather than an official one.

“It's up to the American people to deliver the justice that we deserve at the ballot box in coming hours,” Trump told supporters. “We're going to win."

Clinton, at a rally on Monday night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said early voting was breaking her way. "I really do want to be the president for everybody," she said.  

She accused the Trump campaign of widening splits in the United States. The wife of former president Bill Clinton, she would become the first woman elected president since the United States was founded in 1776 .

“We’re just going to work until the last vote is counted. We are on a good track,” she said.

Both candidates portrayed the election as critical for the future of the United States and the world. They appeared within hours of each other in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Raleigh. 

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Here are Trump's remarks at a a mid-afternoon rally in Raleigh, N.C

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Hillary Clinton appears to be concluding a broad effort to steal this election. I will challenge any victory that she may claim before all votes are counted. And I will legally contest the outcome if the result is questionable.

So-called opinion polls that show me tailing in key states such as Pennsylvania are dead wrong. They are part of a broader media conspiracy to undermine my campaign.

The fact that James Comey, head of the FBI, says that he already has completed his examination of newly discovered emails tied to Clinton prove that the system is rigged to help elect Crooked Hillary.

The FBI director obviously was under tremendous pressure from Democrats to clear Hillary again. But voters know that she should face criminal charges for her use of a private internet server instead of an official e-mail account as U.S. secretary of state.

It's up to the American people to deliver the justice that we deserve at the ballot box in coming hours. We're going to win."

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Hillary Clinton, at a rally on Monday night, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

"Early voting is breaking our way.

“We are on the path to see more Americans vote than we have ever seen in our history. If the lines are long tomorrow, please wait.

"I really do want to be the president for everybody. The splits in the country have been widened by the Trump campaign. We’re just going to work until the last vote is counted. We are on a good track."

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