they campaigned urgently, even frantically, at airfields and arenas, on a college campus in wisconsin and in a philadelphia church. hillary clinton and senator tim kaine, their prospects brightened by news that the f.b.i. had found no new troublesome emails in a review of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s private server, pleaded with americans on sunday to get out and vote as if their very way of life were on the line. scrambling across the electoral map, donald j. trump and his running mate, gov. mike pence, addressed supporters in darker and even graver terms, with mr. trump casting the election as a now-or-never moment for his brand of right-wing nationalism. surpassing the anxious entreaties of an ordinary presidential race, mrs. clinton and mr. trump begged voters to see the 2016 election as a choice of almost apocalyptic significance. mr. trump called the vote on tuesday a final chance to turn back foreign forces menacing american identity, while mrs. clinton said the country<u+2019>s long journey toward equality for women and minorities was at risk of being reversed in a day<u+2019>s balloting. mrs. clinton began her day in philadelphia, speaking at the mount airy church of god in christ with senator cory booker of new jersey, a fellow democrat. in a city where high black turnout could seal her grip on the presidency, mrs. clinton framed the campaign in the context of historic struggles for equality <u+2014> from the origins of the women<u+2019>s rights movement in seneca falls, n.y., to the march for black civil rights in selma, ala. <u+201c>everything you care about, everything i care about and have worked for, is at stake,<u+201d> mrs. clinton said, without mentioning mr. trump. mrs. clinton has delivered a broad message of national unity in the campaign<u+2019>s closing days, offering herself to voters as an avatar of tolerance and reconciliation, in contrast to mr. trump. she campaigned on sunday in new hampshire with khizr khan, the father of an army captain slain in iraq, whose speech in july castigating mr. trump as biased against muslims and immigrants electrified the democratic national convention. mr. khan branded mr. trump as a figure of exclusion and division, asking of him, rhetorically: <u+201c>would anyone who is not like you have a place in your america?<u+201d> mr. trump, for his part, warned voters that they would never again see a candidate like him within reach of the presidency. at a rally in sioux city, iowa, he said repeatedly that he represented a <u+201c>last chance<u+201d> for voters angry about trade and immigration. <u+201c>the media, wall street and the politicians are trying to stop us because they know we will fix the rigged system,<u+201d> he said. the announcement from james b. comey, the f.b.i. director, reaffirming his assessment that mrs. clinton should not be charged with a crime over her handling of classified information, came as a blow to mr. trump and other republicans hoping that a pre-election bombshell would upend mrs. clinton<u+2019>s campaign. as it stands, mrs. clinton appears to be entering election day as a solid if not overwhelming favorite, even as the race has narrowed over the past few weeks. a poll published sunday by nbc news and the wall street journal found her ahead of mr. trump by four percentage points nationally, and she maintains a clear upper hand in the electoral college. and mrs. clinton appears to be benefiting from a surge in participation by latino voters as well as unusually high enthusiasm among women. early voting by latinos may have already given mrs. clinton a decisive lead in the swing state of nevada, as well as a meaningful edge in florida, a state without which mr. trump has no path to the presidency. mrs. clinton and her leading surrogates have also been making a last-minute appeal asking voters to embrace the idea of a female president, seeking to increase her lead among women and to persuade some hesitant men to discard their reservations about mrs. clinton<u+2019>s gender. campaigning in florida over the weekend, mr. kaine accused mr. trump of tapping into sexism as a political tactic. he reproached mr. trump for saying at a rally that military officers would not want to follow orders from mrs. clinton, and for suggesting that she did not look presidential. in wisconsin on sunday, mr. kaine hailed the historic nature of mrs. clinton<u+2019>s candidacy and urged confident democrats not to take victory for granted. <u+201c>if it had been easy for there to be a woman president of the united states, there would have been a woman president of the united states,<u+201d> he said. the clinton campaign also booked national airtime during football games on sunday night to run a pair of commercials featuring men who said they could not vote for mr. trump because of his treatment of women. and mrs. clinton campaigned this weekend with two singers, katy perry and beyonc<u+00e9>, who have hailed her as a barrier-breaking candidate. in some respects, the campaign of encouragement and reassurance echoes the democrats<u+2019> successful push in 2008 to ease any hesitation about barack obama among white voters. that year, prominent white men in the party <u+2014> including senator joseph r. biden jr. of delaware, now the vice president, and richard l. trumka, an a.f.l.-c.i.o. executive <u+2014> made intensive efforts to bring along reluctant white voters. stephanie schriock, the president of emily<u+2019>s list, a group that supports female democratic candidates, said it had been important for leaders like president obama and mr. kaine to speak directly to voters who <u+201c>may still feel hesitant<u+201d> about electing a woman. ms. schriock said mr. kaine and mr. obama had also helped send the message to wavering men that mr. trump<u+2019>s treatment of women was <u+201c>not normal behavior.<u+201d> tom bonier, a democratic data strategist and the chief executive of the firm targetsmart, said there was ample evidence that women were <u+201c>especially motivated to vote in this election.<u+201d> he added that enthusiasm from female voters alone could push mrs. clinton<u+2019>s final vote tally a point above where she stands in public polls. <u+201c>in every single battleground state, women not only make up a clear majority of ballots cast thus far, but the female share of the electorate is larger than it was in the 2012 election,<u+201d> he said. female voters may play an especially influential role in a few states mr. trump is targeting late in the campaign, including pennsylvania, michigan and minnesota, where there are fewer nonwhite voters and mrs. clinton<u+2019>s lead depends in part on white women in the suburbs. mr. trump has increasingly staked his candidacy on long-shot states in the upper midwest that have not voted republican in a generation or more, in an attempt to escape the backlash against his candidacy from latino voters in more diverse swing states. he was competing at a frenzied pace on sunday, with events planned in five states and stretching well into the night as he fell behind schedule. but with the exception of iowa, where he is ahead in the polls, mr. trump is competing on unfriendly turf, scrounging for support in unlikely areas like liberal-leaning minneapolis and the prosperous suburbs of northern virginia. while mrs. clinton has campaigned with an eye toward turning out specific voter groups in crucial states <u+2014> firing up black voters in north carolina and latinos in south and central florida, for instance <u+2014> mr. trump has crisscrossed a wider map of states, but he has done little to attract support beyond his mostly white, less educated political base. in minneapolis, home to a sizable population of immigrants, mr. trump railed against refugees coming into the united states and singled out minnesota<u+2019>s somali community for attack. mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign drew criticism over the weekend for releasing a two-minute closing advertisement that cast mr. trump as an opponent of international financial interests, and pictured three people <u+2014> janet l. yellen, the federal reserve chairwoman; lloyd c. blankfein, the chief executive of goldman sachs; and george soros, the liberal investor <u+2014> as emblematic of the forces aligned against mr. trump. all three of those people are jewish. in a statement, the anti-defamation league said the ad had <u+2014> perhaps unintentionally <u+2014> invoked <u+201c>subjects that anti-semites have used for ages.<u+201d> jason d. greenblatt, a lawyer for mr. trump, said any suggestion that the ad had been anti-semitic was <u+201c>completely false and uncalled-for.<u+201d> amy chozick, thomas kaplan and nicholas fandos contributed reporting. find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the morning briefing newsletter . a version of this article appears in print on november 7, 2016, on page a1 of the new york edition with the headline: as clock ticks down, rivals make urgent pleas to vote. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
hillary clinton and donald trump scramble to make their final pleas
alexander burns