In Cleveland, a megastar appeared on stage in a suit, urging Americans to elect their first female president. The Democratic candidate was there too

The frame of a woman standing in a pantsuit flashed before roughly 10,000 fans at the Wolfstein Center in Cleveland, prompting deafening screams.



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It was not Hillary Clinton, however. It was Beyoncé, four days before the election, paying homage to the woman she urged those present to support, to help shatter what Clinton once called “the highest, hardest glass ceiling”.

At a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by her husband, Jay Z, it was little surprise Beyoncé performed the feminist anthems that have defined her career. “Who run the world?” one song asked. “Girls.” Another championed independent women.

Behind the singer, a quote on a screen: “I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession.”

The words were Clinton’s, spoken in 1992 as a defense of her work as first lady of Arkansas while her husband campaigned for president. Then, such words sparked much controversy – particularly among suburban women. On Friday, they were showcased by one of the most popular entertainers in the world.

The potential for Clinton to make history on 8 November was a dominant theme at the concert, which featured not only Jay Z and Beyoncé but also Chance the Rapper, J Cole and Big Sean.

“I’m here to celebrate our next and first woman president in the history of the United States of America,” said Chance the Rapper, whose legal name is Chancellor Bennett.

Between songs, Beyoncé, the only woman to perform, grew ever more personal. “There was a time when a woman’s opinion did not matter,” she said. “Less than 100 years ago, women did not have the right to vote.

“Look how far we’ve come, from having no voice to being on the brink of making history. I want my daughter to grow up seeing a woman lead our country, and know that her possibilities are limitless. And that is why I’m with her.”

Blue Ivy, Beyoncé and Jay Z’s daughter, was backstage, drawing. The power couple met Clinton there, discussing a bitter campaign season, an aide said.

By the time Clinton appeared, the audience was in a state of euphoria. She kept her remarks short.

She implored the crowd to vote, giving out a number they could text for information and a website that would inform them of the nearest polling station. With the election days away, there was little else to say. Clinton reminded the crowd, which was mostly African American, of issues such as criminal justice reform. She would represent the entire nation, she said, not just a privileged few.

It was Clinton’s third public event on a day that included stops in four states. Beginning in Westchester, New York, where the former secretary of state prefers to stay in her Chappaqua home, she visited the battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio. In the early hours of Saturday, she landed in Miami, where she was set to hold a rally on Saturday.

Clinton was delivering her closing argument not just in swing states where the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, has proven competitive, but also in states where she has held a consistent advantage. As she has often remarked on the campaign trail, she is taking nothing for granted in a race even she has said should have her ahead by 50 points.

Disbelief that Trump remains a formidable opponent was a prevalent theme on one of the final days of her second bid for the presidency. In Pittsburgh, she was accompanied by the billionaire Mark Cuban, who took pointed shots at Trump’s wealth while asking the crowd at Heinz Field, home to the Steelers of the NFL, how they could possibly believe the Republican nominee was a messiah for the working class.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Beyoncé performs. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

“Do you think he has the temperament to do the right thing?” Cuban asked his hometown crowd. “Do you think he has the fortitude to do the right thing? Do you think he cares about you or his bank account?”

Not long after, Cuban boarded Clinton’s campaign plane. He entered the back cabin with a sensational claim: during the primary, the billionaire Koch brothers, mega-donors to the Republican party, had tried to bribe Trump to drop out.

“How do you know?” a reporter asked.

He responded with a smirk, and the claim that they “didn’t offer [Trump] enough”.

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Standing at Cuban’s side was Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, who would not comment on whether Trump could be bribed. Nonetheless, he pushed the caricature of the real estate mogul as an out-of-touch plutocrat.

“You have to ask yourself, if he’s sitting across the table from a foreign leader, is he going to put America’s interests first or is he going to put his own business interests first?” Podesta said. “That’s how I would put it.”

Clinton did not speak to reporters during the day, which stretched to nearly 16 hours. But she appeared in good spirits while chatting with staffers at the front of the plane.

But her fate is no longer in her hands. It rests with those who stood before her, having queued for hours at gymnasiums, stadiums and concert halls.

“It all comes down to you, my friends,” she told them at each stop. “When your children or grandchildren ask what you did in 2016 when everything was on the line, I want you to be able to say, ‘I voted for a better, stronger, fairer America.’”