Clinton, Trump duel in must-win states in tight race

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump squared off on Thursday in do-or-die North Carolina with duelling rallies in the home stretch of a bitter, hard-fought US presidential race that is tightening by the day.

As the candidates jostle and joust for supremacy in the handful of battleground states that will decide the Nov 8 election, two of the biggest prizes on the electoral map, Florida and North Carolina, have narrowed into absolute dead heats, according to RealClearPolitics poll aggregates.

Democrat Clinton unleashed top surrogates including President Barack Obama to bolster her case in the election's homestretch, while Republican Trump deployed wife Melania to soften his image.