PITTSBURGH (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd November, 2020) Hours before the polling stations open across America Joe Biden wrapped up his campaign on a high note of Lady Gaga, who sang and spoke in support of the Democratic presidential challenger at a rally in Pennsylvania, the most coveted prize on the road to US presidency.
The battleground state which carries 20 votes in the Electoral College is so crucial in every victory and defeat recipe that the Republican incumbent Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Biden's running mate Kamala Harris were all touring it on the eve of the election.
"We all know that this thing may come down to Pennsylvania. We need you, we need your family, we need your friends, we need your heart. Vote like your life depends on it. Or vote like your children's lives depend on it, because they do," Lady Gaga urged the gathering who honked in return.
Like many Biden's rallies it was a drive-in event. People drove to a parking lot in front of the Heinz stadium and stayed inside their vehicles to avoid coronavirus contamination risks.
People waiting in a long line of cars for their turn to enter the venue confide that they feel afraid and nervous about the election with stakes and tensions so high.
"Scared. I don't know how is it going to go, especially in the most difficult state in the nation," Georgia says. "It's frightening. The outcome," Lowes from a neighboring vehicle agrees. "It's definitely going to be tough no matter who wins," Sophia, a young Biden supporter, predicts. "I think there will be backlash either way, but I am hoping everyone is safe and it stays peaceful."
They are all at the rally for Biden and see Lady Gaga as "icing on a cake" - a lure for younger voters.
"I think he [Biden] is going to make America kind again. I think that Trump is so not presidential. He has made enemies of everybody, he is so divisive. He thinks everything is all about him," says Lowes. "Joe Biden and Kamala Harris save America. Yeah, from that fool," laughs Lee, her companion.
They both have cast their ballots early, like nearly 98 million Americans, a number that represents more than 71 percent of overall 2016 turnout.
"Now is your chance to vote against Donald Trump, the man who believes his fame gives him the right to grab one of your daughters or sisters, or mothers, or wives by any part of their bodies," Lady Gaga attacked the incumbent from the Pittsburgh stage.
Trump hit back at a rally in Pennsylvania's Scranton, a town where Biden was born and raised.
"Now he's got Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga. It's not too good. I could tell you plenty of stories. I could tell you stories about Lady Gaga. I know a lot of stories," Trump said, prompting laughter from the audience.
Pennsylvania is like America in miniature. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with their diverse Democratic-leaning urban populations in the East and West and a vast predominantly white working-class countryside in between, Trump's best hope to retain control over the state.
An elephant statue greets visitors at the entrance to Somerset, a town of 5,000 residents. It's Jackson, a local zoo celebrity, not a Republican mascot, but the uniformity of yard signs rooting for Trump and Pence leaves little doubt where people's hearts are.
"It's a coal mining area. If you noticed, Trump is a strong supporter of coal industry... If you watched any commercials, they are stating that Biden is anti-coal, anti-fracking, that kind of stuff," Craig Suvak, an owner of a health goods store on Somerset main street, explains local political preferences.
Trump strives to portray Biden as a gravedigger of America's traditional energy industries, which employ tens of thousands in Pennsylvania alone. Biden denies plans to impose a blanket ban on fracking, but does pledge to invest trillions in green technologies and gradually disincentivize fossil fuels production.
Though his business has little to do with mining, Suvak praises Trump's performance. "I don't have any real complaints. I think there are some people that are probably a little upset with the whole coronavirus deal, but I think he is doing the best he can," he says. "If he had been the Democrat, he would have done the same. You have to give him some credit."
Ahead of the 2020 election, pundits from the FiveThirtyEight website of political analytics single out Pennsylvania as "by far the likeliest state" to provide either Trump or Biden with the decisive majority in the electoral college. Their calculations suggest that the incumbent has a 2 percent chance of winning the presidency - compared to about 30 for Biden - if he loses the state that turned red in 2016 by a margin of mere 44,000 votes.
