By Vaishnavee Sharma
BU News Service
In the final hours before election day, President Barack Obama took to the stage at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center in Durham to urge voters to vote for Hillary Clinton.
“I know it’s been a long campaign…full of negative ads…[but] I want you to focus…the choice could not be clearer,” Obama said to the audience amidst applause. “Hillary Clinton will be a leader for all of us, even those who don’t vote for her, because she knows we are stronger together.”
President Obama stressed the importance of electing Democrats to Congress as well.
“If you want Hillary to succeed she’ll need allies,” he said, “allies like Maggie Hassan.”
Hassan, who is running for a New Hampshire senate seat against republican Kelly Ayotte, spoke before President Obama took the stage. Other speakers included democratic candidate for New Hampshire governor Colin van Ostern, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, and film-maker Ken Burns.
William Press, an audience member from South Hamilton, Massachusetts who had canvassed for the Clinton campaign in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, said that he supported Hillary because “she’s the worst campaigner but she will be the best President… better than Barack Obama.”
“She has made and watched every mistake and learnt from it” he said.
Both the Clinton and Trump campaigns held events in New Hampshire on the last day before the elections.
Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy, who was in the audience, said that New Hampshire is a crucial state.
“If we win here, she’s got a pretty good chance of winning,” Kennedy said. He also said that Clinton volunteers had “knocked on 400,000 doors this weekend. The momentum is amazing.”
In his speech, President Obama also emphasized the crucial role New Hampshire plays in this election.
“Donald Trump is uniquely unqualified to hold this job, and New Hampshire is uniquely qualified to make sure he doesn’t get it. So don’t boo. Donald Trump can’t hear your boos, he can hear your votes,” President Obama said.
For his last word, the President urged voters, particularly young voters, to believe that every vote counts.
“The world is watching,” President Obama said. “Don’t give away your power. Send a message, that we’re not mean spirited, we won’t go backwards.”
“The most important office in a Democracy isn’t President, Governor or Mayor; it’s citizen. The fate of our Democracy falls in your hands” he said.
