From the Rat Pack to Elvis, from fight night to the Sphere, Las Vegas serves up spectacle bigger and brasher than anywhere else. On Thursday the political circus came to Sin City as the US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump held duelling campaign rallies here. The events offered a tight focus on the contrast at the heart of next week’s election.
Harris’s rally was a joyful affair, with mothers carrying infants on their shoulders, some supporters and volunteers sporting Halloween costumes and star turns by Mexican band Maná and Latina singer and actor Jennifer Lopez. Trump’s gaudy pageant warmed up with the sound of Elvis warbling about Dixieland and James Brown’s It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World. His crowd sported Make America great again caps and other regalia, cheered his , jeered the “fake news” media and broke into chants of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Even in Las Vegas, a city of escapism, bleary eyed gamblers who stagger out of casinos are confronted by the reminders of the presidential contest: Trump’s name is emblazoned on his five-star luxury hotel, while the Harris campaign took out a campaign ad on the giant $2.
3bn attraction the Sphere. The rivals are drawn to Nevada because it is one seven swing states expected to play a decisive role in the all-important electoral college. It is also about 30% Latino, a demographic that traditionally favours Democrats but where Trump appears to be making inroads this time.
Las Vegas is bo.