A battle for the votes all the way to the finish line

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ATLANTA, GEORGIA. A deafening cheer rises into the clear blue sky as Kamala Harris takes the stage.

The final sprint has begun. Only days remain until election day.

Harris and Trump fly like bullets between the wave master states where the election is decided in practice.

Georgia is one of the main ones that both Harris and Trump keep returning to.

She steps onto the large, open stage wearing a dark beige blazer and fashionable blue jeans. Harris waves in all directions to the large crowd that has been waiting for hours.

She is introduced by a young first-time voter who immigrated to the United States. Harris hugs him before she walks up to the microphone with a big smile and shouts.

– Hello Atlanta. Great to be back.

A sure fire way to fire up the audience.

The weather service has promised cloudy weather. Instead, the sun shines mercilessly down on the audience. The air temperature is around 26 degrees. Unusually warm for Georgia in November.

Harris tries to instill the importance of everyone going and voting.

– We have three days left until one of the most important elections of our lifetime, says Harris. We are all tired of Trump’s attempts to divide us. We need a new generation of leaders who can shape the future. I want to be that leader.

Suddenly Harris interrupts. Something has happened below the stage.

– Can we get a paramedic here, she urges. And you who are standing here try to form once so they come forward.

A brief moment of waiting anxiety passes before Harris takes command again.

– In my USA, we take care of each other.

New cheer.

She tells how she herself took care of her sick mother while working.

– No one should have to quit their job to take care of their sick parents. We must expand healthcare so that everyone can afford it. Not just the privileged.

A giant crane holds up two pieces of white fabric which makes the stage a little shadowy and the light for the TV cameras a little softer.

Because Harris doesn’t just speak for the maybe 15,000-20,000 who came to this meeting. She is speaking to voters across the United States who will see clips from the meeting on the news broadcasts or on YouTube.

Harris picks up the Trump thread again.

– We all know what Donald Trump stands for, she says. How increasingly unstable he has become. How he keeps talking about himself and his own problems. How he is after unlimited power. Do you want him or me in the Oval Room?

The rhetorical question is once again met with great cheers and choruses of “Kamala, Kamala”.

– Do you think if Trump gets to step into the Oval Office again? Then he will bring with him a list of enemies he wants to imprison. I will bring a list of things that need to be done. I don’t see people who think differently than me as enemies.

Her voice sounds a little raspy here and there. In addition to all election meetings, she also participates in various television shows. The schedule for both her and Trump is almost inhuman these last few days. It is important to keep the energy up right into the tile on Tuesday.

By now, most people have heard all of Harris’ rehearsed one-liners. The sense of morality is the same at election meeting after election meeting. That she is a better alternative than the dangerous and erratic Trump. The rehearsal should make the message really sink in.

The lawn next to the Atlanta Civic Center has been replenished throughout the day. Now it’s packed with people, although nowhere near the 75,000 who came to Harris’ rally in Washington DC earlier this week.

Large crane trucks hold giant American flags and video screens high in the air. Officials go and distribute free water. Others hand out placards with text such as Freedom and Vote Kamala. But also the United States. Even Harris wants to show that she is a patriot.

The speakers play rock music at maximum volume. Mostly by black artists. But the majority of the audience is also black.

The bajamajors are lined up in long rows and a bit away a row of food trucks serving everything from hamburgers to Mexican vegan dishes. The queues are long.

The experts single out Georgia and Pennsylvania as the two absolutely most decisive states. If Trump or Harris wins both of these two, victory is almost guaranteed.

The opinion polls still show a dead race. All seven swing states are still winnable for both candidates. Something that is very unusual.

This means that both Harris and Trump fly criss-cross over large parts of the United States in order to visit them all and hold as many election meetings as possible.

The slanderers replace each other. Everything from young students with an immigrant background to local senator Hersey Warnock.

Their message is the same. Now it’s serious. Now you have to go and vote if you haven’t already.

– Are you ready to save America, the senator asks rhetorically.

One issue that Harris never fails to raise at his campaign rallies is abortion rights.

– We fight for freedom. Like a woman’s right to decide for herself over her body. One in three women now lives in states where the right to abortion is effectively abolished.

Today’s biggest applause follows. Restoring abortion rights is something that inspires Democratic voters to actually go and vote.

She promises to sign into law an abortion right that will apply throughout the United States as soon as Congress passes it. Well aware that there is no chance of that becoming a reality in today’s highly polarized situation.

So here in the sprint, the speeches are short. Harris doesn’t last more than half an hour. For once, she also shows up before the appointed time.

The moment she stops, Beyoncé’s song Freedom kicks in at top volume.

Kamala Harris takes a lap on stage and waves to the fans. The Secret Service is hot on her heels. Now is no time for selfies.

Five minutes later, a cannonade of blue lights explodes on the other side of the fence as the vice president’s motorcade departs for the airport for the next stop on the hectic campaign tour, Charlotte, North Carolina.